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Rose Letting Puss in. — Page 73 




ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


FIRST OF THE ROSE DALE BOOKS. 


EASY READING 

FOR THE DEAR LITTLE ONES. 

BY 

MRS. D. P. SANFORD, 

AUTHOR OF PUSSY TIP-TOES* FAMILY,*’ “ FRISK AND HIS FLOCK,” STORIES OF 
CORALS CHILDHOOD, * ‘‘ UNDER THE SKYLIGHT, AND OTHER STORIES FOR 

CHRISTMAS,” ETC., ETC, 


NEW YORK: 


E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY, 

713 Broadway. 

'S7S- 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 
By E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


LC Control Number 



2005 416509 


Electrotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
No. 19 Spring Lane. 


RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



CONTENTS. 


PAGB 

I. What I Have to Say 7 

II. The Sweet Home 9 

III. In-Doors and Out-of-Doors 15 

IV. Boys and Girls must be Kind. ... 23 

V. Up in the Morn-ing 30 

VI. The Lord^s Day “ . . 39 

VII. The Sing-ing Time 47 

VIII. The Wet Day . 51 

IX. The Chips and the Cakes 59 

X. Mike and his Wife 65 

XL The Lost Cat. 69 

XII. What Mike had to Show 75 

XIII. The Three Kit-tens 82 

XIV. The Big Doll 86 

XV. Puss as a Horse. 92 


( 3 ) 


4 CONTENTS. 

XVI. What Ruth said in the Morn-ing. . . 97 

XVII. The Day that Mam-ma went to Town. . 102 

XVIII. The Drive with Mike 1 10 

XIX. The Girl and the Goat II 7 

XX. The Gifts from Town '. 124 

XXI. The Lame Man 130 

XXII. Mam-ma’s Sto-ry 134 

XXIII. The Lame Man once more 143 

- XXIV. Vis-iT FROM Aunt Kate 154 

XXV. The Pic-nic 161 

XXVI. Lit-tle I-da 170 

XXVII. Which Kit-ty ? 177 

XXVIII. IIoop-iNG Cough 187 

XXIX. Sun-day at Home 198 

XXX. Pa-pa Sick 204 

XXXI. The Chil-dren’s Tri-al 209 

XXXII. The Talk with Mam-ma. ..... 218 

XXXIII. The New Cock and Hens 224 

XXXIV. The Lit-tle Nurse 232 

XXXV. Dark Days. . 238 



ROSE, TOM, AND RED. 


( 5 ) 






I. 

WHAT I HAVE TO SAY. 

I WANT a gift for some dear 
pets of mine — a nice gift. What 
shall it be? 

I think I will make a book for 
them; not a big book, with hard 
words in it, but one that they 
will like to read, and can read, 
by theni-selves. 


7 


8 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


What shall I tell the boys and 
girls, in my book? 

I will tell them of Rose Dale, 
a dear lit-tle girl; and of Tom, 
and N'ed Dale. I will tell of their 
work, and of their play, what fun 
they had, and all that. 

If I have more to tell than will 
fill one book, of the size my pets 
like best, why, I can just make 
more — two, three, or four books. 

We can put them in a neat 
case or box; and we will call 
them The Rose Dale Books. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


9 


II. 

THE SWEET HOME. 

Rose was six and a half years 
old at the time I shall tell you of ; 
so she felt like a big girl, for Tom 
was but five, and Ned was not 
much more than three. 

These three dear lit-tle ones 
lived with their pa-pa and mam- 
ma, in a nice place, just out of town. 

Rose was born in the town. 
That was her home at first. 


10 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


But, one day, when Rose was 
not more than two years old, Mr. 
Dale came home, and said to his 
wife, “My dear, I have seen such 
a nice place, not more than two 
miles ont of town; it is just the 
place we want for a home.” 

Rose’s mam-ma was glad. She 
said at once, “0, do buy it, and 
let us go and live there ! We 
will keep a cow, and our dear 
Rose can have nice, fresh milk, 
that will do her good; and we 
can have a gar-den; and we will 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


11 


keep hens, too, and have new- 
laid eggs.” 

So they took the place, and 
went at once to live on it. It 
was a sweet home, to be sure ! 

Lit-tle Rose was so glad to 
be there ! But I must tell you 
more of this. 

It was in the warm days of 
May that the Dales moved; just 
as the buds were out, and the 
grass was green, and all was 
sweet. 

Rose ran out in the yard, and 


12 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


in the gar-den, in high glee. She 
did not need a nurse with her 
all the time, as she did in town. 

On the next page you may see 
Rose, in the gar-den, with her 
sun-hat on, hap-py as a bird. 
She did not pick the flow-ers, if 
her mam-ma told her not to, for, 
lit-tle as she was, she knew how 
to mind. 

See how she bends the stem, 
to smell of the rose. 

It is a white rose. Her pa-pa 
used to call her his White Rose, 



Rose in the Garden. — Page 12 



ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


13 


when they lived in town, she was 
so pale. But now the lit-tle girl 
grew so fat and well, and ran out 
doors so much, pa-pa said she was 
his Wild Red Rose, 

The first time that Rose went 
out to see the man milk the cow, 
Ruth took her lit-tle cup out, and 
told him to milk some in-to it, to 
see what Rose would say. 

Rose took a sip, and she did 
not stop till all the sweet, warm 
milk was gone. 

Then she looked up at the cow, 


14 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

and said, “ Ta, Ta, Moo ! ” That 
was her way to say, “ Thank you, 
cow.” She did not know, till 
then, where the good milk came 
from, that she liked so much. 

The lit-tle boys, Tom and JS’ed, 
were both born here. They loved 
this dear home, too, as much as 
Rose did. They all said that it 
was just the best place in all the 
world. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


15 


III. 

IN-DOORS AND OUT-OF-DOORS. 

I HAVE not said much of Tom 
and Wed, but you will hear of 
them now. 

“What did they have to play 
with ? ” you ask ; , “ and what did 
they find to do 1 Why did they 
love their home so much?” 

“ Why did they love their 
home ? ” Well, first and best, 
their dear pa-pa and mam-ma lived 


16 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


there. Is not that just why you 
love your home? I know it is! 

Jane, too, who took some care 
of them, was a nice, kind girl; 
and Ruth, the cook, was as kind 
as she could be to all of them. 

In-doors, these lit-tle ones had 
a nice play-room. It was a bit 
of a room, next to the one that 
their mam-ma sat in, to sew. 

Rose and the boys liked to 
have the door open when they 
were at play, so that they could 
call to their mam-ma, and she 
could see all the fun. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


17 


Boys and girls like to have 
some one to see them play: do 
not you? 

In this play-room Rose had 
her dolls, and her doll’s bed, and 
box, and a tea-set to play tea 
with. She used to set out her tea 
things on the dolls’ box, and play 
it was a ta-ble, 

Tom had a fine rock-ing horse, 
that would go real fast; and a 
Avhip to make him go. 

Tom had more toys, but he 
cared more for his horse than for 


18 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


all the rest. Aunt Kate gave him 
the horse. 

Some-times Ked thought he 
would like to ride on Tom’s horse, 
and Tom would help him on. 
But Ked’s legs were so short, his 
feet did not reach so that he felt 
safe, and he did not like to go 
fast. 

He liked best to play he was 
“ Mike,” and take the horse to the 
barn when Tom had been out to 
ride. 

Ked had a cart, and a Jack-in- 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


19 


a-box, and a No-ah’s ark, and a 
soft ball, that did no harm when 
he threw it. 

They had nice books, too, in a 
small case, in this room; it was 
hung low on the wall, so they 
could all reach it. 

Out of doors, 0, I can-not tell 
you, all at once, of all the things 
they liked to see and to do. 

There was old Dick, pa-pa’s 
horse; and Suke, the kind, good 
cow, who gave them milk each 
day; and the hens and chicks to 


20 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

feed; and Tray, the dog, to run a 
race with them. 

Rose and Tom did not play all 
the day. 0, no ! They had some 
work to do. 

They each had to read to mam- 
ma, and spell, and say a verse. 
And Rose had to sew, each day, 
for half an hour. 

Tom could not read hard words 
yet ; but he said, “ I mean to read 
all the words soon, as Rose does.” 

Rose could read quite well, for 
a lit-tle girl ; she would read such 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 21 

a book as this right off. I dare 
say you can too, little Bright- 
Eyes ! 

Tom read one page of his First 
Book for his task, each day. 

Wee Ned did not read: he was 
too small : he could not keep still 
to look at the words, and his 
mam-ma did not want him to, yet. 

He had a card with the let-ters 
on it: big ABC, and the rest. 

Some-times he would ask his 
mam-ma, or Rose, to tell him 
what they were. 


22 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


One day he took the card to 
Puss, as she lay on the rug, and 
said, “Now, Miss Puss, say B.” 

But all Puss did was to wink at 
him, and then shut her eyes. She 
did not care a fig for ABC. 

By and by, in two or three 
years more, Ned will learn to 
read, so that he may grow up a 
wise man. 

But Puss can-not learn. She 
will not know how to read, if she 
gets to be a grave old cat. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


23 


IV. 

BOYS AND GIELS MUST BE KIND. 

Were Rose, and Tom, and Ned 
Tcind^ in their play? 

Yes, most of the time; but 
some-times they for-got. 

One day Tom said, “Now, play 
I was a bear. Run, Rose ! Run, 
Ned ! Here I come. TJrr ! Urr ! ” 
Tom did this, you see, to be 
like a bear. Rose took up her 
dolls and ran. She got up on a 


24 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


chair, and said, “ Ha ! ha ! old 
Bear, you can-not get me, or my 
chil-dren ! ” 

But ISTed said, “ 0, dorUt^ Tom ! 
don’t play bear! I ’fraid!” 

Tom did not mind this ; he just 
went on: “Urr! IJrr! Here I 
come. Look out, now; the bear 
may eat you all up ! ” 

At this poor Hed be-gan to cry. 
0, how he did cry! And mam- 
ma came, in haste, to see what 
was the mat-ter. 

“ Tom,” said she, when she saw 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


25 


the play, “why do you vex iN’ed 
so?” 

“ I did not hurt him a bit, 
mam-ma,” said Tom. “I just 
said, ^Urr!’ and he saw who it 
was. He was a goose to cry!” 

“Well, but he is a lit-tle boy; 
and if you saw he did not like 
your play, why did you not stop, 
and play some-thing else ? You 
would not like to have some big 
boy vex you in that way, I know.” 

“]S’o, ma,” said Tom. “One 
day when I went down the road 


26 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


to see Mike at work, a great, big, 
rude boy met me, and he said he 
would bite my ears otf if I went 
past him. So I had to run back 
home.” 

“Then you can tell just how 
I^ed felt when you were a bear. 
That boy did not mean to bite 
off your ears, a-ny more than you 
meant to bite Ifed.” 

Tom hung down his head. “I 
thought he did,” said he. 

Mam-ma went into her room, 
and took a book from the stand. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


27 


Rose and Tom knew what book it 
was: it was the Bi-ble. 

She said, “Come here, my son, 
and let me see if you can read 
this verse.” 

Tom came and stood by her 
side. He had to spell some of the 
words, but he made it out, with a 
lit-tle help; see now if you can: 
this was the verse. 

“ Be of one mind ; live in peace ; 
and the God of love and peace 
shall be with you.” 

“My lit-tle ones want the God 


28 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


of love to be with them — do 
they not ? ” said mam-ma. 

“0, yes, we do,” said they all. 

“Then you must try to ‘be of 
one mind ; ’ that is, each one must 
try to like and to do what the 
oth-ers like; and you must be 
kind to each oth-er.” 

“ I will not play bear a-ny more, 
if Ned does not want me to,” said 
Tom. 

He gave Ned a kiss, and then 
Ned gave him such a hug that 
they both fell on the floor. But 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


29 


this did not hurt them a bit; it 
was fun. 

I hope Tom kept that good 
verse in his mind; and I hope 
you will, too, my dear pets: for 
it will help you to be good and 
kind, so that Giod will love you. 


30 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


V. 

UP IN THE MORN-ING. 

“ Come, Rose, come ! It is day 
now, and it is time to get np,” said 
Jane. “Come, Tom, jump, now, 
like a man!” 

“Row, Red-dy, boy, we will 
see who will be dress-ed first!” 

“All ! but you dress Red, Jane; 
so that is not fair.” 

“Yes, it is; for Red is not so 
big as you, and then he has more 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


31 


things to put on. I will help you, 
too,, if you need it.” 

Out came Tom, and Rose, and 
Ned, on to the floor. Tom and 
Rose had each a cot, and Ned 
slept in a crib, in the same room; 
it was a nice, large room, next to 
their mam-ma’s bed-room. 

Now, how they did try, each 
of them, to be first! 

Soon Tom call-ed out, “Here 
I go ; I am dress-ed first ! ” And 
he ran to the door. 

“Wait a bit, child,” said Jane; 


32 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ I must wash your face and 
hands.” 

“And, Tom, we must not for- 
get to pray,” said dear Rose, 
soft-ly. 

Tom was a good boy, and came 
back; and when Jane was done 
with him, he and Rose knelt 
down to pray. 

I^Ted saw them, and he ran and 
knelt down too, by Tom. 

Jane said the words of the 
pray-er, as his mam-ma did, and 
then he said it, too : this was 
]S"ed’s pray-er: — 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


33 


“ 0 God, bless me, and make 
me a good boy ; and keep me safe 
this day. Bless all my dear 
friends, too, this day; for Je-sus’ 
sake. A-men.” 

“ Now go down and kiss pa-pa 
and mam-ma,” said Jane ; and otf 
they ran. 

Such a bright, warm day as that 
was ! It would have been too 
bad to waste it in bed. 

Rose and Tom and lit-tle Ned 
were soon out in the gar-den, and 
in the yard, at play. 


34 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Ruth came out to feed the hens 
and chicks. “ 0, Ruth, let me 
feed the dear, dear lit-tle chicks,” 
said IS’ed. 

So Ruth gave him the pan of 
soft, wet meal, and let him go to 
the coop, and call, “ Chick, chick ! ” 
Out came the lit-tle chicks, in 
great haste, to get the meal. But 
the old hen did not like the looks 
of a small boy with the pan ; she 
flew round the coop, and call-ed, 
“Chick, chick,” as loud as she 
could. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


35 


“ Old hen,” said Ruth, “ be still. 
You need not fear that our boy 
Red will hurt your chicks.” 

This old hen had five chicks. 
She had nine at first, but one was 
sick, and soon died. The oth-er 
three were lost, one by one. Ruth 
said a rat or a cat must have 
kill-ed them; but Rose was sure 
that her cat, dear old Tab, would 
not have done such a bad thing; 
0, no ! • 

When the clock said Rine, 
mam-ma came to the door, and 


36 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


said, “Come, Rose and Tom; it 
is time now for lessons.” 

“ 0, dear ! ” said Rose ; “ it is 
so nice out doors, I wish we need 
not have les-sons to-day!” 

“It would not be a good plan 
to give them up ; they would 
seem all the more hard and dull 
the next time. Work first, and 
then play, and if you do your 
tasks with a good will, you 
may soon be out at play once 
more.” 

So said mam-ma, with a smile. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


37 


and Rose and Tom drove off the 
cross look, and smiled, too. 

“I must go say my card too,” 
said jN^ed, “ kick as I can, so I can 
come out to play.” 

He said “kick” for “quick;” 
he could not say thht word. 

Rose gave all her mind to her 
book, and so did Tom, and soon 
all the les-sons were done, and 
done well. 

Then they had a grand time 
at play ! 

They had a long race with 


38 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Tray, and Tray beat them all. 
Here is Tray. Does he look as 
if he could play and race with 
a child? I think he does. 



A V vWw.wV ' V: il 






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Dog Tray. — Page 38 










ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


39 


VI. 

THE LOED’S DAY. 

One day, when Rose, Tom, and 
E'ed waked, they sat up in bed, 
and be-gan to throw things at 
each oth-er, and to talk, and 
laugh, and sing. 

Mam-ma came in from her 
room, and said, “My dear boys, 
and Rose, do you know what day 
this is?” 

Soon Rose said, “ Why, yes, 


40 


HOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


mam-ma ] it is Sun-day. I did 
not think!” 

“Yes, it is the Lord’s Day, and 
I want my dear ones to keep it 
in mind, and try to be still. Keep 
the day ho-ly, as God has told us 
to do, and then it will be sure to 
be a hap-py day.” 

“ May we go with you to church 
to-day, mam-ma ? ” said Tom. 

“Yes, dear, we will all go. I 
mean to take our wee Ked to- 
day. We will see if he can keep 
still, and be a good boy.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 41 

“ 0, good ! I am glad,” said 
Ned 5 and he be-gan to jump up 
and down in his crib, and clap 
his hands. 

“We have to keep as still as 
mice, Ned,” said Rose ; “ how will 
you like that ? ” 

“I can keep still,” said the lit- 
tle boy; “now you will see.” 

“I know my lit-tle Ned will^ 
^r^,” said his mam-ma; “but it 
may be hard work for him at 
first. Here comes Jane ; now 
spring up and dress.” 


42 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


The church to which Mr. and 
Mrs. Dale went was in the town ; 
there was none near their home. 

So they had to ride to church ; 
but the lit-tle ones did not mind 
that; it was nice for them. 

If they had lived near a 
church, so they could walk to it, 
Mr. Dale would not have got out 
the horse on Sun-day. 

They went in good time, so 
that they could stop at Aunt 
Kate’s house, and rest, till the 
bell rang. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


43 


Aunt Kate lived quite near the 
church. She was glad to have 
them come, and go with her. 

This day she was glad to see 
wee Ked. She said, “ So my boy 
Ked is to go to church to-day! 
That is nice ! I think ’ I shall 
have to try I-da next, if we find 
that Ked can keep still.” 

I-da was Aunt Kate’s lit-tle 
girl. She was not quite as old 
as Ked. Ked was six months 
old-er. 

“ 0, Aunt Kate,” said Rose, “ do. 


44 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


do take her to-day ! It will be so 
nice; and let her sit with me.” 

“ 0, no, my love ; we will try 
iled first, and by and by I-da 
shall go. I hope they will both 
love to go to the House of God.” 

Aunt Kate lent wee Ned a nice 
book, with pic-tures in it, to look 
at in church, to help him to sit 
still. 

When the bell be-gan to ring, 
they all went. The church was 
full, but Rose and Tom did not 
stare, or look a-round, or talk of 
what they saw. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


45 


Rose had her book, for she 
could read, aud Tom had a book, 
too, but he could not keep the 
place, as Rose did. 

Was Ned a good boy? Yes, 
that he was. And mam-ma gave 
him a kiss, when they went back, 
and said, “Ned shall go next 
time, for he sat quite still.” 

They went home with kind 
Aunt Kate, at noon; and then 
once more to church. 

Theii pa-pa got up old Dick 
a-gain, and took them all home. 


46 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Dick went fast, on the way 
home, to get soon to his barn. 
He liked his own barn more than 
the stall in town. 


KOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


47 


VII. 

THE SING-ING TIME. 

When they got home, the horse 
was put up, and they had their 
tea. 

Then Rose said, “ Row it is our 
time to sing. May we sing now, 
mam-ma? and will you play for 
us ? ” 

“Yes, dear, you may come in- 
to the par-lor now, and we will 
sing some hymns.” 


48 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


So Rose, and Torn, and iN’ed 
stood by their mam-ina, who was 
to play for them ; and pa-pa came 
too, to help them sing. 

The first hymn was, — 

“ Come and sing, 0, let us sing.^^ 

Do you know that hymn? I 
like it. 

“ Wow,” said Tom, “ let us sing 

^Je-sus, when he left the sky.^’^ 

So they did: they all liked that, 
for each verse ends with, — 


Lit-tle ones like me.' 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


49 


Then it was Ned’s turn to ask. 
Rose and Tom knew what he 
would ask for: he said, “Mam- 
ma, sing, — 

^ Jesus loves me, this I know, 

For the Bi-ble tells me so.’ ” 

That was Ned’s hymn; he could 
sing the tune, but he did not 
know all the words. 

When they had sung one or 
two more, it was near dark ; Jane 
and Ruth came in to pray-ers, 
and then it was bed-time. 

“Has it been a hap-py day?” 


4 


50 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


said mam-ma, when they came to 
kiss her “ Good-night.” 

“Yes, 0 yes,” said Rose. And 
Tom said, “ Sun-day is the best of 
all the days.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


51 


YIII. 

THE WET DAY. 

One day, when les-Sons were 
done, Tom and Rose ran for their 
hats, to go out to play. But 
mam-ma saw them, and she said, 
“You can-not go out now, my 
dears, for it is wet. Look out 
and see how the rain comes 
■ down.” 

“ 0, dear ! ” said Tom ; “ I wish 
it did not rain. I want to have 
some fun.” 


52 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ Rain, rain, 

Go to Spain,” 

said Rose, with a laugh. 

“ See,” said Jane, “ how fast the 
rain-drops fall on the glass. How 
they do come ! Do you know the 
song for a wet day ? ” 

“ Ho, Jane ; w^hat is it ? Will 
you tell us ? ” 

So Jane said this song for 
them : — 

“0, where do you come from, 

You lit-tle drops of rain? 

Pit-tor, pat-ter, pit-ter, pat-ter, 

On the win-dow pane. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


53 


“You won’t let me work, 

And you won’t let me play, 

You won’t let me go 

Out of doors at all to-day. 

“The lit-tle rain-drops can-not talk, 

But ^Pit-ter, pat-ter, pat,’ 

Means, ‘ We can play on this side, 

Why can’t you play on that?’” 

Rose and Tom both said that 
was a nice song. 

“Well, then,” said Jane, “why 
don’t you do as the rain-drops 
say ? They can play ont-side, and 
yon can play in-side, where it is 
nice and dry.” 

“So we can, and so we will,” 
said Tom. 


54 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ Play on, yon rain-drops. You 
need not stop for us, for we can 
play in the house.” 

“ Mam-ma,” said Rose, “ may 
we go up in the big west room, 
and have a real good play ? ” 

“Yes, if you will shut the door, 
and* take good care that Ned does 
not fall down the steps.” 

“ Yes, we will,” said Rose; and 
off they ran. 

The west room had a bare 
floor, and Mrs. Dale kept in it 
box-es, and bags, and such things, 
that were not in use. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


55 


“ What shall we play now ? ” 
said Tom. “ 0, let us play ‘ Hide 
and Seek.’ We can hide be-hind 
some box or trunk.” 

“So we will. Now, Ned, you 
must shut your eyes, so ! and 
you must not look till Rose calls 
‘Coo.’ Then you and I will find 
her.” 

So Ned put his two fat hands 
on his eyes, to keep them shut. 

When Rose cried, “ Coo ! ” they 
went to find her. At last, they 
found her in-side of an old trunk. 


56 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Then Tom hid, and when he 
was found, lit-tle Ned hid him- 
self; but he did not keep still 
long, he was so full of fun. 

When they were tired of this 
game. Rose said, “Now let us 
play ‘Puss in the Cor-ner.’ 

“This is the way to play it. 
Put Ned in one cor-ner, and you 
stand in a cor-ner, Tom, and I will 
stand here. 

“When I call. Puss, Puss! then 
we all run, and try to get in one 
of the cor-ners; if I get in, and 


-I 9 






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i 


The Mouse Tom Saw. — Page 57 






ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


67 


you are left out, then you must 
stand and call” 

‘‘Well,” said Tom, “I like that.” 
This play was as much fun as 
“Hide and Seek.” 

Then they played they were 
mice, come out to get a bit of 
cake. Once Tom saw a lit-tle 
mouse, on the shelf in the pan- 
try, and Tom liked to play 
“ mice ” since that time. 

They put some bits of wood on 
the top of a box, to play it was 
cake. Then they all came round 


58 ROSE, TOM, AKD NED. 

to get some ; and then one would 
cry, “Mew!” as if the cat were 
near by, and off they would run, 
fast as they could, to their holes. 

By and by Tom said, “Why, I 
hear the bell ! How soon it is tea 
time ! ” 

It was soon af-ter din-ner, when 
they went up to play, and they 
had had such a good time that 
they did not know how late it 


was. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


69 


IX. 

THE CHIPS AND THE CAKES. 

One day, Tom and N'ed were at 
play in the back yard. 

They were on a pile of logs; 
they had it for the stage; Ned 
was in the stage, and Tom drove, 
with a big stick for a whip. 

Tom had reins tied on the saw- 
horse ; he called it a real horse. 

Ruth came to the door just 
then, and said, “What dear, good 


60 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


lit-tle boys will come and pick up 
a pan of chips for me? My fire 
has got low, just as I want to 
bake, and I want some nice chips 
so much.” 

Then Tom said, in a cross tone, 
“0, Ruth, you are sure to come 
and want some-thing, just as we 
are in a real nice play. I wish 
you would not spoil all our fun.” 

Red was sure to act just as 
Tom did 5 so he said, “Go ’way, 
bad Ruth! you spoil our play!” 

“ So no one will pick up some 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


61 


chips for me ! ” Then I must do 
it my own self,” said Ruth. 

'•'‘Some time I will, Ruth,” said 
Tom ; “ I don’t feel like it now.” 

“ Ah ! but I must have the 
chips now^ you see,” said Ruth. 
And she got her pan full, and 
went in. 

In a short time the lit-tle boys 
were tired of that play, and they 
be-gan to want some-thing to eat. 
So they ran in-to the house. 

Ruth was just go-ing to bake. 
Tom and ITed came and stood 


62 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


by, to see her roll and cut out 
her nice cakes. 

“ 0, Ruth,” said Tom, “ do make 
some wee, wee bits of cakes, such 
as you made last week for us. 
Then Rose can get her tea-set out, 
and we can play tea with them. 
It is such fun!” 

“0, yes,” said JS’ed, make 
fun-ny lit-tle cakes, Ruth ; do? 

“ But you said I was ‘ Bad 
Ruth’ just now; and how can I 
make cakes for boys that will not 
pick up chips, to help me?” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


63 


Tom and Ned hung down their 
heads. How they did wish they 
had been kind, and done as Ruth 
asked them to. 

At last Tom said, “ Shall I get 
some chips now ? ” 

“Why, if you like, you may; 
but my fire burns well now, with 
the chips I had to get my-self!” 

“Won’t you make us some 
cakes, Ruth — not a bit ? ” said 
Ned, in a sor-ry tone. 

“Well, I like to for-give folks 
that are bad to me; so I think I 


64 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

will make the lit-tle cakes; and 
may-be, next time I want some 
help, my boys will be kind to me.” 

“ 0, yes, we will, you dear, good 
Ruth,” said Tom. “And we will 
get a big box full of chips now 
for you. Come, Ned.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


65 


X. 

MIKE AND HIS WIFE. 

Mike was the name of the man 
who did all kinds of work on the 
place for Mr. Dale. 

Mr. Dale had a store in the 
town, and he went in to see to 
his store each morn-ing, and got 
back to his home just in time for 
tea. Some-times he drove to 
town with old Dick, but some- 
times he went by the cars, which 


66 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


came quite near his house, — less 
than half a mile. 

As Mr. Dale was at his store 
in town all day, he could not tend 
the gar-den, nor hoe the corn in 
the lot, nor feed the pig, nor 
milk the cow, nor care for the 
horse ; so Mike did all these 
things. 

Mike was a good inan, and did 
all his work well. 

He lived with his wife in a 
small brown house, just at the end 
of the gar-den. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


67 


Mike’s wife kept her bit of a 
house as neat as a pink. Rose 
and Tom and Ned, too, liked to 
go and see Mike and his wife, 
and they were glad to have them 
come. 

Their mam-ma of-ten let them 
go to Mike’s house, for she knew 
they would get no harm there. 

The name of Mike’s wife was 
Mrs. Ry-an, but the lit-tle ones 
called her “0-ney.” Rose gave 
her that name when she was a 
bit of a girl. “ 0-ney ” lived with 


68 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


them then; but soon Mike asked 
her to be his wife, and live with 
him in the brown house, and so 
she did. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


69 


XL 

THE LOST CAT. 

“Where can our Puss be?” 
said Tom; “I don’t find her, and 
I have looked all o-ver the house.” 

“ And I had a hunt for her to- 
day, and last night,” said Rose, 
with a grave face, for she be-gan 
to fear that Puss was lost. 

“Let us ask Ruth and Jane if 
they have seen her.” 

“Ruth, have you seen Tab to- 


70 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


day? We can-not find her at 
all.” 

“ She came for her milk as soon 
as I came down this morn-ing,” 
said Ruth ; “ and she came last 
night ; I do not think she is lost.” 

“ Is it the cat you want, dears ? ” 
said Mike, who was at the door, 
with some wood. “Sure an’ she 
is all safe.” 

“ 0, Mike, can you find her for 
us ? ” said Rose. 

“ I can^ hut sure she will not like 
it much if I show you her place.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


71 


“ But, Mike, she is my own cat, 
and she ought to mind me, and 
come when I want her,” said Rose. 

“Well, now, if you would just 
let her be for two days, and not 
try to hunt her up, or keep her 
here if she wants to be off, then I 
will show you what will make you 
all jump for joy.” 

“ Two more long days,” said 
Tom, “ with no Puss ! ” 

“ What will you show us, Mike % 
Do tell me.” 

“ 0, 1 must not tell,” said Mike, 


72 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


with a look at Ruth ; “ sure an’ it 
would make the time seem too 
long.” 

“Well” said Rose, with a sigh, 
“we will try to wait; but can we 
play with her if she does come 
home % ” 

“ 0, yes ; but don’t keep her if 
she wants to go out of the door.” 

They did not see Puss that day ; 
Ruth had put some bits, and a 
pan of milk for her, in the shed, 
and she came and got them when 
no one was by. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


73 


But the next day, when Rose 
came down stairs, she heard her 
“mew” out-side the door. 

Rose ran to o-pen the door. 

In the front of this book you 
may see Rose as she let Puss in. 

“ Here you are, dear old Tab ! ” 
said she. “ ISTow tell me, your own 
self, where you have been ; for 
Mike will not tell.” 

But Puss had no word to say. 
Tom and JN’ed came down then, 
and Rose call-ed them to see 
Puss. 


74 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


She took her milk, and ate some 
meat ; and then she let them play 
with her till the bell rang for 
them to go in. 

When they left the ta-ble, and 
came out, she was off. 

“ 0, dear,” said Tom, “ how odd 
it is that Mike will not tell us! 
It seems as if I could not wait.” 

“ Try to think of some-thing 
else,” said Ruth. “Like as not 
you would not want to play with 
Puss, if she were here. Do not 
think of her at all, till Mike tells 
you you may see her.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


75 


XII. 

WHAT MIKE HAD TO SHOW. 

Rose and Tom did try not to 
think of Puss, and as for ^Ted, he 
was such a mite of a boy, he soon 
for-got what Mike said. 

When the two days were past, 
Mike came to the door for the lit- 
tle ones. 

They were not quite done with 
their books when he came. 

“ 0, mam-ma, let us go with 


76 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Mike now, and see our Puss ; for 
lie will be off at work by and by, 
and can-not show her to us.” 

So mam-ma let thpm go. Mike 
took Ned in his arms, and led the 
way to the barn. 

Then he took them, one by one, 
up to the loft, where the hay was, 
and led them to a snug spot, 
where they saw old Tab, in a bed 
of hay. 

And, by her side, were three 
dear lit-tle kits. 

“0, 0, 0!” cried Rose, and 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


77 


Tom, and Ned ; and they did jump 
for joy, as Mike said they would. 

One kit-ten was all white, one 
was white, with dark spots, and 
one was a dark gray. 

The chil-dren each took up one. 
Old Puss said, “ Mew ! mew ! ” 
quite in fear at first ; but she saw 
they did not mean to hurt her 
kits, so she kept still, but she kept 
her eye on them. 

“So you came off to take care 
of your kits ! ” said Pose to her 
old Tab; “that was a dear, good 


78 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Puss. But why did you not tell 
us that day, Mike ? ” 

“Sure, the kits were too small 
and weak for you to take up in 
your hands. I thought you might 
hurt them; and if you did, may 
be old Puss would have had them 
off in some new place, where we 
could not get at them.” 

“How could she take them off? ” 
said Tom ; “ she has no arms.” 

“ Stay a bit ; put that one down, 
off here, and keep you still, and 
see what she will do.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


79 


Tom did so. Soon the kit-ten 
be-gan to cry, and cry, and creep 
a-bout. Then old Tab ran and 
took the kit up in her mouth, by 
the back of its neck, and ran with 
it to her bed. 

“ 0, bad Puss ! ” cried N’ed, “ to 
bite the dear lit-tle kit-ty.” 

“ Sure she did not hurt it at all,” 
said Mike; “that is her way to lift 
them. The kit was glad to feel 
her hold of it.” 

“May we take them to the 
house, and show them to mam- 
ma ? ” said Rose. 


80 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“0, no! do not try to move 
them to-day ; let them be here a 
day or two more, and then I will 
coax them down from the loft, and 
we will give Puss a soft bed for 
them in the barn, be-low, or in the 
shed, or wash-room.” 

“ Can we come up here and see 
them ? ” asked Tom. 

“ I will lift you up here a-gain, 
when I come back from my woi'k,” 
said Mike ; “ but sure you will not 
try to get up here by your-self ? ” 
“ N’o, pa-pa will not let us,” said 
Tom ; “ I wish he would.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


81 


0, may be pa-pa will be home 
in time to come out with us, and 
see them to-night,” said Rose. 

“ That’s so ! we will tell him of 
the dear kits, as soon as he gets 
home.” 

“But poor mam-ma will have to 
wait ; she can-not get up the 
lad-der.” 

“ Ah ! ” said Mike, “ sure your 
mam-ma, bless her! knows how 
to wait, as you, bits of things, do 
not^ yet.” 


6 


82 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XIII. 

THE THEEE KIT-TENS. 

Rose and Tom and Ned told 
each one in the house aU a-bout 
“the dear, sweet lit-tle kit-tens,” 
as they called them. 

Rose told her dolls, too ; and 
Tom told Tray. 

He took Tray by his ears, so 
that he conld look right in his 
eyes, and said, — 

“ Now, dear old Tray, I want to 


KOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


83 


tell you ! We have got three dear 
lit-tle kits, and by and by we shall 
have them here to play with. But 
you must not bark at them, nor 
hurt them; no, nor scare them, 
will you ? Say you will be kind 
to the kits, like a good old dog.” 

“Bow, wow, wow!” said Tray. 
This might mean that he would, 
or that he would not^ or that he 
did not like to have his ears held. 
I think it was the last. Tom felt 
sure he would be a good dog, and 
not hurt the kits. 


84 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


In a few days, Mike brought 
down the kit-tens ; they were put 
in a box, with a soft old mat in it, 
in the wood-shed. 

Mam-ma said Rose and Tom 
and I^ed might each own one of 
the kits. 

Rose was to choose first, for she 
was the old-est. But she said, 
“We will let Ned choose first.” 

Ned said, “0, I want the dear 
lit-tle white kit-ty for my kit-ty.” 

So did Rose, and so did Tom, 
like that best. But they both said 
it should be lit-tle Ned’s. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


85 


Of the oth-ers, Tom liked the 
gray one best, and Rose liked the 
one with spots. So it was all 
fixed, in a nice way. 

Row, if they had all said, “I 
want the white kit-ty! I choose 
the white one for mine ! ” what a 
sad time there would have been 
o-ver the kits! 


86 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XIV. 

THE BIG DOLL. 

Rose had three dolls. Two of 
them were just a-bout the size 
that I think a lit-tle girl likes 
best to play with; that is, a-boiit 
a foot and a half long. One of 
these was a love of a doll ; it was 
of wax, with hair in curls, and 
blue eyes, and pink cheeks. It 
would cry, too, if you gave it a 
good pinch ; but Rose did^not like 
to make her child cry. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


87 


The name that Rose gave this 
doll was “ Lu-lu.” It was sent to 
her when she was but two years 
old, but her mam-ma did not let 
her have it to play with, till she 
knew how to take good care of it. 

Rose oft-en said, “Mam-ma, I 
am glad you kept Lu-lu in a nice 
box, and did not let me have her 
when I was a lit-tle girl.” 

The oth-er doll, that was of a 
good size, had a head that would 
not break. It was not so pret-ty 
as the wax doll, but Rose took 


88 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


good care of her, and played 
with her, too. She said, “ Poor 
Fan would feel bad-ly if she saw 
I liked Lu-lu the best,” 

Then Rose had a big doll ; her 
name was May. This doll was a 
great care to Rose. It was sent 
to her by a la-dy, who lived in a 
town far a-way. It was a fine 
doll, with nice clothes, but it was 
too big for the doll’s bed, and too 
big for the cart, and for the doll’s 
chair. 

Rose gave her a long talk, one 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


89 


day. She said, “May, I do wish 
you would try not to vex me so. 
You will put your feet right in the 
way, and you will not stand, or 
walk, or act as such a big girl 
should. You act as if you had 
come from the back-woods. What 
am I to do with you ? ” 

Mam-ma was in the next room, 
where she could hear this. 

She had a laugh to her-self ; then 
she said, “ Rose, dear, do you not 
ask too much of poor May ? ” 
Rose came out with the doll in 


90 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

her arms. “ What can I do with 



her, mam-ma ? ” I can-not make 
her mind, like Lu-lu and Fan.” 


KOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


91 


“You can play she was most 
grown up, and that she had a 
weak spine, and had to lie down 
much of the time. You can let 
her have a book to read, and take 
her food to her so-fa.” 

“That will be nice! so I can; 
now I shall like to play with 
May.” 

In the pic-ture, you see Rose 
talk-ing to poor May. 


92 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XV. 

PUSS AS A HOKSE. 

One day, Tom had been at play 
with Ned. Ned was the horse, 
and Tom drove him, with reins, 
and a whip. 

By and by Ned said, “ Now you 
be horse, and let me be div-erP 

Tom did not like this part of 
the play so well ; he knew he 
ought to take his turn as the 
horse; so he let Ned drive him 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


93 


two or three times a-round the 
yard ; then he said, “ 0, Ned, I am 
tired ; I don’t want to play horse 
now; I want to look at my new 
book.” 

“ But /want to play horse some 
more ; do play with me, dear Tom.” 

“See here,” said Tom; “you 
take old Tab for your horse ; put 
the reins round her.” 

This was not just the right thing 
to do, for Puss did not like to be 
kept from her kit-tens; but the 
lit-tle boys did not think of that. 


94 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Ned liked the plan ; he tied the 
reins round Puss, and drove her 
all a-bout; and if Puss did not 
like it, she bore it well, and was 
as good a horse as a cat could be. 

Ned ran to show Ruth his fine 
team, but Ruth was out. 

The fire was down, for it was 
past tea-time; and the doors of 
the cook-stove were not shut. 

“ 0, ho ! ” said lit-tle Ned, as he 
got down to peep in-to the ov-en ; 
“ what a nice barn this is for my 
horse ! 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


95 


“ There, poor old nag ! I will 
not dive you now; you may go 
in-to this barn, and rest.” 

So Ned put Puss in the ov-en, 
and shut the doors tight ; then he 
went to tell Tom. 

He did not find Tom just then, 
and soon he was called to go to 
bed ; and he for-got all a-bout 
poor Puss, shut up in her barn. 

Puss, I dare say, cried as loud 
as she could, and tried to get the 
door o-pen, but no one was near, 
to hear her. 


96 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


By and by, the three lit-tle kit- 
tens be-gan to want their old 
inoth-er. They ran a-bout the 
shed, and cried, “ Mew, mew.” 
There was a pan of milk set for 
Puss, and they each got their 
paws in it, and each put her nose 
in it, but they did not know how 
to lap it up ; they were too small. 

So at last they crept in a lit- 
tle heaj) on the floor, and cried 
them-selves to sleep. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


97 


XVI. 

WHAT RUTH SAID IN THE MORN- 
ING. 

The next clay, when the boys 
were come clown stairs, they ran 
out to see Ruth, as they liked so 
much to do. 

“0, Ruth,” said Tom, “let me 
do that for you. Chop, chop ! it 
must be fun.” 

“ What you go-ing to do, Ruth ? 
make a nice hash ? ” 


98 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ See here ! ” said Ruth ; “ I 
want to talk to you, young sirs; 
who shut poor Puss up in the 
stove ov-en last night ? ” 

“ 0, 1 did,” said l^ed ; “ she was 
my horse, and that was the barn. 
Is she in there now ? I’ll let her 
come out.” 

“ Stop, child ; you will burn 
your hands. No, sir ; my rolls 
are in there now ; but we were in 
a fair way to have a roast cat for 
you to eat.” 

Rose had come in, and she said. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


99 


“0, our poor kits! Were they 
a-lone all night?” 

“ Yes, poor things, that they 
were. When I came down this 
morn-ing, I went out in-to the 
shed for wood, and I heard them 
cry, and cry. I saw Puss was not 
with them, and says I, ‘ Why, 
where can she be ? ’ Then I 
came in to make the fire, and I 
heard old Puss cry, close by me. 
I went to the pan-try door, and 
all the doors, but no Puss did I 
see. I did not know what to 
make of it. 


100 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“As the fire be-gan to burn, 
and the ov-en to get hot, you 
may be sure she cried more and 
more. At last I took hold of the 
ov-en door, to see if it grew hot 
for my rolls, and out she came, 
and held up first one paw, then 
the oth-er, as if to tell me it was 
hot in there!” 

Poor lit-tle IN'ed’s face grew 
quite sad, and at last he be-gan 
to cry hard. 

“I did not mean to bake poor 
Puss,” he said, with a great sob. 

“Well, bless your lit-tle heart. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


101 ■ 


I know you did not,” said Ruth, 
“and she is not baked; she is 
with the kits. Come and see her.” 

Ruth took him out in the wood- 
shed in her arms, and let him see 
Puss with her kits. 

“There,” said she, “you need 
not cry, for she is all right now ; 
but do not shut her in the ov-en 
a-gain, mind ! for some one might 
come and make a fire, and burn 
her all up.” 

“ ]^o,” said Ned, as he wiped his 
eyes with his bib ; “ I won’t put 
her in that barn a-ny more; no.” 


102 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XVII. 

THE DAY THAT MAM-MA WENT 
TO TOWN. 

One day, Mrs. Dale had to go 
to town, to be gone all day. 

She was to go with Mr. Dale, in 
the cars, in the morn-ing, and as 
she had to go a-bout a good deal, 
to the shops, she did not think 
best to take the lit-tle ones with 
her. 

So she left them in Jane’s care. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


103 


Mike was to get up the horse, at 
some time in the clay, and take 
them all a nice drive, for an hour ; 
and the rest of the time, their 
mam-ma told them, they must be 
good, and do just as Jane told 
them. 

At first. Rose, and Tom, and 
Ned felt as if it would be fine fun 
to have no les-sons, and to have 
all day for play. 

They jiut on their hats, and 
went out to see the hens 'and 
chicks ; then they had a nice play 


104 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


with their kit-tens ; they each had 
a spool tied to a cord, and ran 
down the gar-den walk, and the 
kit-tens would all chase the spools. 
The kit-tens were grown now, so 
they could run and play, and, as 
Rose said, “they were just as 
pret-ty as they could be.” 

Rose had named her kit-ty 
“ Spot,” and Tom called his “ Ifet,” 
and they named the white one 
“Snow;” but Ned said, “No, she 
is Kit-ty.” He did not want a 
bet-ter name for her. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


105 


By and by it grew so hot in the 
sun, that Jane said they must play 
in the shade of the trees, or else 
come in-to the house. 

They played under the trees 
for a time, and Rose got her dolls 
out there, and would have liked 
to stay, but Tom said, “I don’t 
want to play with dolls; come. 
Rose, let us go in, and find some- 
thing to do.” 

Rose had a good mind to say 
“ No,” for she had just been in to 
get her dolls; but then she said to 


106 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

her-self, “I must be sure to be 
kind, now mam-ma is not here.” 

So she took up Lu-lu and Fan, 
and went in. She did not take 
May out, for May did not seem 
to feel well that day. 

Tom and Ned tried all their 
toys, and Rose took down the 
books she liked best, but it 
seemed a long time to din-ner. 

Ruth got them a nice din-ner, 
just what they all liked. 

When they were done din-ner, 
Rose said, “ JSfow^ what time is it, 
Jane ? ” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


107 


“It is just one,” said Jane. 

“ 0, dear ! Mike said he could 
not go with us till three; that is 
two hours. What shall we do 
now ? ” 

“Why do you not play school?” 
said Jane. 

“ How shall we play it ? ” asked 
Rose. 

“Why, play that you kept the 
school, and Tom, and Hed, and all 
your dolls, can come to it.” 

“They must all sit up on seats, 
and you must hear them read. 


108 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Then they can play do sums, and 
you can make your dolls sew.” 

“ That will be a nice play,” said 
Tom ; and otf they all ran to the 
play-room. 

Ned said his A B 0 in school, 
and Tom read, and the dolls did 
their work. 

“ Now,” said Tom, “ play I was 
teach-er, and you read to me.” 

Rose did not just like that, but 
at last she said, “Well, I will.” 

So she got a book that had a 
nice sto-ry in it, that she could 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


109 


read well, and Tom, the teach-er, 
liked to hear it so much that she 
read on to the end of it. 

Then Jane came to the door, 
and said, “Mike has gone to the 
barn for Dick ; so come now and 
let me dress you.” 

“Why, it is not three yet, is 
it?” 

“It is not far from it,” said 
Jane ; “ have you had a good 
play ? ” 

“Yes,” said Tom; “I like to 
play school, first rate.” 


110 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XVIII. 

THE DRIVE WITH MIKE. 

The sun was still hot, but Mike 
chose a road that led in-to the 
woods, so it was nice and cool, 
rid-ing. 

Rose and ]^ed sat on the seat 
with Mike, and Tom sat on a stool 
in front, for to-day they had the 
bug-gy, with but one seat. On 
Sun-day, when they all went to 
church, they had a light wag-on, 
with two seats. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Ill 


The chil-dren were in high glee, 
and they were all on the look-ont, 
to see what was to be seen. 

First, Tom spied a bird close 
by; then Rose saw some sweet 
wild flow-ers, and Mike got out 
to pick some for her. 

Then, when they had gone a 
lit-tle way, l^ed said, “What are 
those lit-tle black things on that 
bush, Mike ? ” 

“ Black-ber-iies,” said Mike, 
“ and ripe, too. Well done ! You 
have bright eyes, Ned, my boy. 


112 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

I did not think it was time for 
them to be ripe.” 

“0, Mike, get us some; will 
you ? ” 

“You can all get out, and we 
will tie Dick, and pick all we see.” 

“Good, good!” said Tom; “how 
nice ! ” 

So Mike took them out, and 
then he got a big leaf, and made a 
sort of cup for each of them, to 
hold the ber-ries. Then they had 
a hunt for them, up and down, 
and they found quite a lot of 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


113 


nice, ripe ones. How sweet they 
were ! 

When they had got all that 
were to be seen, they got in-to 
the bug-gy, and went on. 

“I know a place,” said Mike, 
“where there are lots of black- 
ber-ries; they must soon be ripe 
now; may-be your mam-ma will 
let us go some day and pick them. 
If she will let Jane go with us, 
and 0-ney will go, we can get 
heapsP 

“Won’t that be just jol-ly?” 


8 


114 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


said Tom; “what fun we will 
have, if we can go ! ” 

As they drove on, Ned said, 
“ 0, I want a dinh^ so bad ! ” 

“ So do I.” “ And I,” said the 

oth-ers. 

“Wait a bit, then,” said Mike, 
“and we will get some.” 

Soon they came to a spring, a 
lit-tle off from the road ; the cool, 
pure wa-ter ran down in-to a tub, 
by the side of the road. 

Mike led Dick up to the tub, 
for he felt the want of a drink 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


115 


too, that hot day. Then he gave 
the reins to Tom to hold, and he 
took a tin cup that he had with 
him up to the spring, and got it 
full of nice, cold wa-ter, for the 
chil-dren. 

He had to fill the cup three 
times. 

“How did you come to have 
a cup with you, Mike?” said 
Rose. 

“ Ah ! ” said he, “ lit-tle folks are 
sure to want a drink, if they think 
it can’t be had.” 


116 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“But we did want it, for true, 
this time.” 

“So you did, bless your heart; 
and you got it, you see.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


117 


XIX. 

THE GIRL AND THE GOAT. 

They did not drive back by the 
same road; the sun was not so 
hot now. 

“ Sure I think we have been out 
a good bit more than an hour,” 
said Mike; “but you see I think 
your mam-ma will say it was the 
best thing I could do to keep you 
all in the woods a time.” 

By and by they came to a 


118 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


house, in front of which a lit-tle 
girl sat on a log, and by her was 
a large goat, which she fed from 
a plate. 

“0, see, 0, see,” cried Ned; 
“there is a dog with two horns, 
like Suke’s horns ! ” 

“A dog with horns!” said Tom; 
“ 0, ho ! ” 

But Tom could not say what it 
was, for he had never seen a goat. 

Mike told them what it was, 
and he drew up, that they might 
look at it. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED, 


119 


“ Is that your goat, lit-tle girl ? ” 
said Rose. 



“Yes,” said the child; “Mm is 
my own goat. I had him when 
he was a wee bit of a kid, and 
now you see how large he is.” 


120 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“Does he like you?” 

“0, yes, he will go all a-bout 
with me, and come when I call.” 

“ What is your name ? ” 

“ My name is Ma-ry Ball. What 
is yours?” 

Rose told her, and told her 
where she lived. 

“N'ow we must go on,” said 
Mike; say, ‘Good by’ to Ma-ry 
and her goat.” 

As they drove on. Rose said, 
“ Why, that is just like Ma-ry and 
her lamb, on-ly this is a goat.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


121 


“ What Ma-ry ? ” said Tom. 
“Why, you know! 

^ Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb ; 

Its fleece was white as snow ; 

And ev-ery where that Ma-ry went, 

The lamb was sure to go.’ ” 

“ Why, you can say it this 
way,” said Mike : — '• 

Ma-ry had a lit-tle goat ; 

It had two horns, you know ; 

And ev-ery where that she did tote. 

That goat was sure to go.” 

This made the chil-dren laugh. 
But then Rose said, “ That is not 
so nice, Mike — is it ? ‘ Tote ’ is 


122 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


not a nice word to put in the 
verse.” 

“ Well, do you fix it, then ; sure 
you can make a verse bet-ter than 
old Mike.” 

“You are not ‘old Mike,’ cried 
Ned, as he gave Mike’s arm a hug ; 
“ you are kind, good Mike.” 

Rose had been think-ing so 
hard a-bout the verse, that she did 
not seem to hear this; now she 
said, — 

“ Why, we can let the last two 
lines be as they were, Mike. Then 
it would be, — 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


123 


‘ Ma-ry had a lit-tle goat ; 

It had two horns, you know ; 

And ev-ery where that Ma-ry went. 

The goat was sure to go.’ ” 

“That’s it, to be sure,” cried 
Mike; “now hear me till I learn 
it, so I can say it to 0-ney ” 

Rose gave him a look, to see if 
he was in fun, but he did not seem 
to be. 

When they got home, it was 
past five, and near time for the 
train ; so Mike put them down at 
the gate, and drove ofi* to meet 
their pa-pa and mam-ma. 


124 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XX. 

THE GIFTS FROM TOWN. 

When they were come, Rose, 
and Tom, and lit-tle I^ed had so 
much to tell of their play, all day, 
and of their nice drive, and all, 
that their mam-ma had hard work 
to get her things put up, so she 
could come to tea. 

So pa-pa called, “ Here, you 
chicks; do you not want to see 
what mam-ma has got for you ? ” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


125 


At this they all ran, you may 
be sure. 

There was a par-cel in the hall, 
that had a look as if it came from 
a toy-shop. 

You know how such a par-cel 
looks, I dare say. It will have 
odd points and sides, that look as 
if there was sonie-thing in it that 
did not want to be kept tied up, 
but was just in haste for some lit- 
tle boy or girl to cut the string. 

Pa-pa cut the string with his 
peu-knife. First there was a dear 


126 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


lit-tle work-box for Rose, with a 
glass in the top, and a tray that 
had a place for all the things she 
had to sew with, just the shape 
that they would fit in. There 
were some tools in the box, too. 

Rose gave a jump for joy, and 
said, “ 0, how I shall like to sew, 
now I have this nice box!” 

Then there was a white wood 
box, that Tom knew had some toy 
in it. 

It was a farm-yard : that is the 
name of the toy. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


127 


There were bits of fence to set 
up, to form the yard ; and all that 
you would look to find in a real 
farm-yard, to put in-side: cows, 
and sheep, and fowls, and men, 
and maids. 

This was for Tom. Ned seemed 
to think he would like that to play 
with; and Tom said, “You shall 
play with it, with me, Ned, dear ; 
and Rose, too.” 

But pa-pa said, “ Here is some- 
thing more. I will dare to say 
this is for our Ned.” 


128 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


It was a nice horse and cart of 
wood, made so that Ned could 
take the horse out, and hitch him 
up a-gain, him-self. 

Ned thought this was the best 
of all, and he said, “ I will let you 
play with my new horse and cart, 
Tom; ’cause you are good.” 

“What made inam-ma get us 
such nice things ? ” said Rose. 

“ I think it was Love that made 
her think of it,” said pa-pa. “ May 
be, too, she felt quite sure that 
some lit-tle folks of hers would try 
to be good while she was gone.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


129 


“ How bad we should feel, if we 
had not tried to be good, Tom ! ” 
said Rose. 

“ That’s so. I mean to give 
mam-ma a good kiss for this.” 

“Audi, too.” “And I.” 

9 


130 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXL 

THE LAME MAN. 

From the gate, a wide, smooth 
walk led up to the front door of 
Mr. Dale’s house, and from this, on 
each side, there was a walk, a-long 
by the side of the house, that led 
back to the gar-den. 

The chil-dren liked to run up 
and down, from the gate to the 
house. It was a nice place to roll 
a hoop, or to have a race with 
Tray. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


131 


One day they were all out in 
front of the house ; Rose had her 
dolls in the porch, poor May and 
all; for she said, “May must need 
to be in the air.” 

JN’ed drew his new horse and 
cart up and down the walk, and 
Tom had got up on one of the gate 
posts, that he might see up and 
down the road. He liked to 
watch the teams go by. 

Soon he got down from the post 
in haste, and ran up the walk to 
Rose. 


132 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“0, Rose, come to the gate, 
quick as you can ! 0, such fun ! ” 

“Why, what is it? What did 
you see ? ” asked Rose, as she put 
Lu-lu down, to run with Torn. 

“ 0, 1 saw a man down the road, 
and he walks so ! ” and Tom drew 
up one foot, and made a queer 
step, a kind of hop, with the 
oth-er. 

“I can-not do it as he does,” 
said he; “he leans on a sort of 
cane, and he goes so slow! But 
come, he must be most here now.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


133 


So they ran down to the gate, 
and they both stood to see the 
man go past. It was fun to them 
to see him limp a-long. 

But how did the poor man feel 
when he saw them make fun of 
him ? For he could not but hear 
what, they said, and see them 
laugh and point at him. 

Rose and Tom did not think 
that the poor man could hear 
them; in fact, they did not think 
at all how he must feel ; but on-ly 
how fun-ny he did look. 


134 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXII. 

MAM-MA’S STO-RT. 

Mrs. Dale was by the win-dow 
of her room up stairs, so that she 
saw all this. It made her feel sad 
to see her lit-tle ones so un-kind 
to a poor lame man. 

She went down, and took a seat 
in the porch, and called them. 

Rose and Tom were glad to see 
her there, and ran to her; and 
Hed came too. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


135 


“ Shall I tell you a sto-ry ? ” said 
mam-ma, — “a Bi-ble sto-ry ? ” 

“ 0, yes, if you please, mam-ma.” 

“Once there was a poor, lame 
man, so weak and lame that he 
could not walk at all. 

“ He nev-er did walk ; when he 
was a lit-tle child he was lame, 
and could not run, and skip, and 
jump, as you can. 

“Think how you would feel, 
dear Tom, if you could not move 
your-self a-bout at all ; or if e-ven 
one leg was stiff and lame, so that 
you could not use it.” 


136 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“It must feel bad, mam-ma, I 
think,” said Tom, with a grave 
face, for now he be-gan to think 
how the lame man that went by 
the gate must have felt. 

“This poor lame man was laid, 
day by day, at the gate of the 
House of God. 

“ Some, who cared for him, had 
to help him there, and help him 
home a-gain at night, for he could 
not take a step by him-self” 

“What did he want to get to 
the gate of God’s House for?” 
said Rose. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


137 


“ To ask help of those who went 
in at the gate. They went in to 
pray to God in His House, and it 
may be, the lame man thought it 
was a good time to ask them to 
help the poor, as they went in to 
ask God to help and bless them.” 

“ Is that why they pass round a 
plate when we are in church?” 
said Rose. 

“Yes; we ought to be glad to 
give, to help the Lord’s poor, 
when we go to ask God for all 
that we need.”- 


138 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“Well, as men went by him, 
go-ing in at the gate, the lame 
man held up his hand, to ask them 
to give him some-thing. 

“Most of those who cared for 
the poor did stop to give him a 
coin to buy food with, for they 
knew well that he was in great 
need of help. I dare say some 
made fun of him as he lay there ; 
it may be some boys and girls did ; 
but I hope not.” 

Here Rose gave a quick look 
at her mam-ma, and then at 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


139 


Tom, and her eyes were full of 
tears. 

“One day,” said mam-ma, “two 
men came in at the gate. They 
were good men. They were two 
of those men who were with our 
dear Lord Je-sus, when he was on 
earth, and whom He sent out to 
tell all men of Him, and to teach 
them His good Word. 

“ How glad they were to do this. 
They did so love their Lord, that 
they loved all men for his sake, 
and they loved to do good to all. 


140 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“When these good men came 
by the poor lame man, he held up 
his hand, as was his way to do, in 
hope of a gift from them. 

“Did they pass him by? 0, no. 
They cared for all who were poor, 
and sick, and sad. They stood still. 
And one of them said, ‘ Look on us.’ 

“Then the lame man did look 
up at them ; and Pe-ter — for it 
was he — said, ^ Sil-ver and gold 
have I none ; but such as I have, 
give I thee. In the name of Je- 
sus Christ, rise up and walk.’ 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


141 


“ He took the lame man by the 
hand, to lift him up, and at once 
he felt that his poor, lame feet and 
legs were well and strong. ’ 

“ 0, how glad he was ! How he 
did leap, and jump, and walk 
a-bout ! It was such joy to him 
to use his feet! 

“ Then he went in with the good 
men, Pe-ter and John, to the 
House of Hod, to thank the Lord 
who had made him well. 

“For he knew that the good 
men did not make him well by 


142 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


their own pow-er, but by call-ing 
on the name of Je-sus, their Lord. 

“But you may be sure he did 
thank them too, and love them, for 
their kind deed.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


143 


XXIII. 

THE LAMB MAN ONCE MORE. 

Rose and Tom were quite still 
when the sto-iy was done. At 
last their mam-ma said, — 

“My Rose loves the Lord Je- 
sus ; and Tom, too ] do you not ? ” 

“Yes, mam-ma; we try to.” 

“ Then, if you do love Him, you 
must not vex, or make fun of one 
who is lame, or poor, or sad. Je- 
sus did not do so; He made the 


144 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


lame to walk, and the blind to see, 
and healed all that were sick, 

“ You can-not make a lame man 
well, to be sure; but you can be 
kind to all such, and try to do 
good to them, and cheer and help 
them, for Je-sus’ sake,” 

“ 0, mam-ma,” said Tom, “ I 
wish that lame man would come 
by here again, so I could tell him 
I am sor-ry.” 

“Why, may be he will,” said 
Rose. “ If he does, mam-ma, may 
we ask him to come in and rest ? ” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


145 


“ Yes, you may, my child ; and 
you will not laugh at a-ny such 
poor man a-gain, I know.” 

“ No, in-deed, mam-ma ; we will 
not.” 

Tom ran down to the gate-post, 
to look out for the lame man. 

Rose saw him give a long look 
down the road; then she saw him 
jump otf from the post, and run 
out a lit-tle way, and look ; then he 
came fly-ing back, up to the house. 

“ 0, mam-ma ! 0, Rose ! I saw 
him! He has sat down by the 


10 


146 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


side of the road, to rest, just be-low 
Mike’s house.” 

“ Mam-ma, may we run and 
speak to him ? ” cried Rose. 

“ Yes ; and you may ask him if 
he would like some-thing to eat 
or drink.” 

Rose and Tom ran as fast as 
they could, for fear the man would 
get up and go on. 

When they came up, the man 
gave a look round, and when he 
saw who it was, he turned his 
head the oth-er way; he thought 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


147 


they had come to laugh at him 
a-gain. 

Rose and Tom did not know 
what to do then ; but at last, 
Rose went close to him, and put 
her hand on his. 

“Please, sir,” she said, “Tom 
and I want to speak to you.” 

The man looked at her then, 
and at Tom, too. 

“We did not mean to make fun 
of you when you went by our 
house, and we are sor-ry we 
laughed,” said Rose, just a-bout 
to cry. 


148 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ Bless you, dear-y, do not 
mind ! ” said the lame man. “ I 
had nigh for-got a-bout it!” 

“Well, won’t you come back to 
our house and rest ? ” said Rose. 

“Yes, do,” said Tom; “and 
have some-thing to eat.” 

“I thank you all the same, 
dears, but I don’t think I could 
go back ; I have a good bit yet to 
go, and I can get on but slow-ly.” 

“Does it hurt you much to 
walk ? ” 

“Ay, dear, I do get tired, but 
the good Lord helps me on.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


149 


“ 0, do you love Je-sus ? ” asked 
Rose. 

“ That I do, dear-y, as I hope.” 

“Mam-ma just told us,” said 
Tom, as he came and stood by the 
poor, man, “a-bout a lame man 
whom Je-sus made well, so he 
could walk, and jump on his feet. 
I wish he would make you well, 
too ! ” 

“He will, dear lad, in his own 
good time!” said the man. 

Rose and Tom stood quite still, 
when the lame man said this, and 


150 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


looked in his face with-out a 
word. 

But soon Rose said, “If you 
have walked a good way, do you 
not want some-thing to eat ? ” 
May be mam-ma will let us bring 
some-thing here to you, if you 
will wait.” 

“Bless your kind lit-tle heart,” 
said the man, “ I should be glad 
of a bit, for I have been a long 
time on the road.” 

A-way ran Rose and Tom, as 
fast as they could go, to the house, 
to their mam-ma. 


KOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


151 


“ 0, mam-ma, may we take our 
lame man some sup-per?” cried 
Tom. 

“ 0, mam-ma,” said Rose, “just 
think; he is a good man, and he 
says Je-sus will make him well 
some-time.” 

Mrs. Dale went to the pan-try 
to get some food; she cut some 
cold meat, and bread, and some 
good plain cake, and put them in 
a small bas-ket, so that Tom could 
car-ry it. Then she gave Rose 
some milk, in a can, and a mug for 


152 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


the man to drink out of, and told 
them to go slow-ly with the things. 

The poor man was glad in-deed 
of the food and milk. 

Rose and Tom sat by him till 
he had done his sup-per ; then he 
said, “Thank your kind mam-ma 
for me, my dears; and may God 
bless you both ; you have done me 
much good; I shall get on well 
now, I am sure.” 

The man got up to go. Just 
then Mike came up in the bug-gy ; 
he was on the way to the train, 
to meet Mr. Dale. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


153 


“0, Mike!” cried Tom; “do 
stop. Can you take this lame 
man part of the way he has to 
go?” 

Mike looked at him, and liked 
his look ; so he said, “ Sure I can, 
as far as to the turn of the road, 
if he can get up here.” 

Mike gave him a hand, and he 
did get up, and seemed so glad of 
the ride ! 

Rose and Tom then went home 
with the mug and the can and 
bas-ket, and they talked all the 
way of the lame man. 


154 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED- 


XXIV. 

VIS-IT FROM AUNT KATE. 

The next week was a glad time 
for all the lit-tle ones. Aunt Kate 
came out to “ Brook-side,” for that 
was the name of Mr. Dale’s place, 
to stay all the week. 

She had I-da with her, of 
course, and I-da was such a dear 
lit-tle pet ! Then I-da’s pa-pa 
came too, each night, with Mr. 
Dale, from town. Rose, and Tom, 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


155 


and Ned called him “ Un-cle 
Will,” and they all said he “was 
such a fun-ny man ! ” He was 
sure to make some fun for them^ 
when he came. 

One day Tom came in and said, 
“Mam-ma, Mike says the black- 
ber-ries are full ripe now, and it 
will soon be too late for them; 
when can we go to pick some ? ” 
Aunt Kate said, “ How far do 
you have to go? I like to pick 
black-ber-ries, too ! ” 

“ 0, 0, will you go, Aunt Kate ? 


156 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Then mam-ma will, if you will, I 
know ! ” 

Mam-ma said, “ Well, if we can 
get a two-horse wag-on, may be 
we will all go. We will see when 
pa-pa comes home.” 

The young ones found it hard 
to wait till they saw their pa-pa 
and Un-cle Will at the gate. 
They ran to meet them, and all 
spoke at once — lit-tle I-da, and 
I^'ed, and all. 

TJn-cle Will put his hands up to 
his ears, and pa-pa said, “Wait till 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


157 


we get in, you mad-caps, and let 
me hear what mam-ma has to say.” 

Af-ter a talk with Mike, it was 
all fixed. They were all to start 
in good time, the next day, if it 
should be clear, and spend the 
morn-ing in pick-ing black-ber- 
ries. Then pa-pa and Un-cle Will 
were to come home on the noon 
train, and join them, and they 
were to have a pic-nic lunch in 
the wood near by, and then drive 
home by way of the Lake. 

Rose and Tom were too full of 


158 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


glee to keep still at all ; and lit-tle 
I-da and IN’ed had a long talk, in 
their own way, a-bout the nice 
time they would have. 

They all went out more than 
once, to take a look at the sky, 
and make sure that no dark clouds 
were to be seen. 

The last thing be-fore Rose 
went to bed, she knelt down at 
the par-lor win-dow, to look up 
once more at the sky. 

“ The stars are all out, mam-ma,” 
she called to her moth-er ; “ they 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


159 



shine so bright, I am sure it will 
not rain ! ” 

“ Do not think so much of that, 
my love,” said her mam-ma, “for 
if it should rain, we could go the 
next day, I dare say.” 


160 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“But it would be so hard to 
wait ! ” 

“You must try not to feel so, 
dear child ; the rain, if it comes, 
will be all for the best ; God sends 
the rain.” 

“ Well, I may just hope it will 
be clear, may I not, mam-ma?” 
said Rose, with a smile; and she 
came to give mam-ma and Aunt 
Kate a good-night kiss. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


161’ 


XXV. 

THE PIC-XIC. 

The next day was clear and 
bright as one could wish. The 
sun shone on Rose’s face and woke 
her, and she called out, 0, Tom, it 
will be a nice day ! We can go ! ” 
Tom was wide a-wake, and so 
was Red, in no time; and there 
was such a noise that Jane soon 
heard, and came up to help them 
dress. 


11 


162 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ What makes you give me 
these old things ? ” said Tom ; 
“ don’t you know we are to go to 
a nick-pick f 

“I don’t know much a-bout a 
^ nick-pick,’ ” said Jane, “but if you 
go to a black-bei -ry pick, you want 
to wear what will not be torn all 
to bits with the bush-es. Yonr 
mam-ma told me to give you this 
sack and pants to put on.” 

“Well, I don’t care what I wear 
— do yow. Rose ? — so we get off.” 

The wag-on was at the gate by 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


163 


eight o’-clock, and soon they all. 
got in; Jane went with them, and 
0-ney, to help pick; but Ruth 
staid to keep the house. 

They had all sorts of pails in 
the wag-on, and a big bas-ket, with 
lunch in it; it was sure to be a 
nice lunch, for Ruth had had a 
great bake, the day be-fore. 

“ I hope we shall find a good lot 
of ber-ries ; don’t you, mam-ma ? ” 
“Yes, I do; Aunt Kate and I 
would like to make some nice jam,” 
When they came to the spot. 


164 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


they saw at once that there was 
work to be done. 

They all got out, and Mike tied 
up the team in the shade of some 
trees; then each took a pail, and 
be-gan to pick. 

I-da had a lit-tle bas-ket, and 
Ned a bit of a pail, but the ber- 
ries they picked did not get in-to . 
these, for they went in-to the dear 
lit-tle mouths. 

Rose and Tom seemed to think 
it was fine fun. Rose would call 
out, “ 0, Tom, come here ! See 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


165 


how thick they are here ! ” And 
Tom would call back, “This is the 
best place of all; I can pick fast 
as my hands can go ! ” 

By and by I-da came to her 
mam-ma and said, “ I do like back- 
bed-dies, mam-ma.” 

“ I should think so, by the look 
of your mouth and hands, my 
pet,” said her mam-ma. “I^ow 
you and IS’ed must rest a lit-tle, or 
you will be tired. See, you sit 
down by this stone, and we will 
, put some cake on a leaf, for a 


166 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


plate, and some ber-ries on an- 
oth-er, and you can play have a 
feast. But you must sit still a 
long time, and talk at your feast.” 

This was a nice plan ; and Rose 
and Tom saw the fun, and they 
were glad to come to the feast too. 

When they had all picked till 
they were tired, it was near time 
for lunch. They put all in the big 
pails, and they had six quarts in 
one pail, and five in an-oth-er, and 
four in an-oth-er; now can you 
tell how ma-ny quarts that made, 
in all? 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


167 


Mike and 0-ney had a pail full 
too ; they meant to put them with 
the rest, but Mrs. Dale said, “0, 
no ! they must take some to make 
jam, too ! ” 

Soon pa-pa and Un-cle Will 
drove up, in the bug-gy, with old 
Dick. 

Then they laid a cloth on the 
grass, in the shade, and put out 
the lunch. There were cold fowl, 
and ham, and rolls, and cake ; pies, 
too, and a jug of milk. 

Food is sure to taste good when 


168 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


we have been hard at work; so 
you may know they all said this 
was a nice lunch. . 

Then came the time to pack up, 
for the drive by the Lake. 

Mike took 0-ney, and Jane, and 
some of the pails, home in the 
bug-gy, and pa-pa drove the two- 
horse wag-on to the Lake. 

There was a boat on the Lake, 
and pa-pa and Un-cle Will took 
the lit-tle folks all out in it, a lit- 
tle way ; while mam-ma and Aunt 
Kate sat on the shore to rest. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


169 


Then they drove home by a nice 
road, with trees on each side, and 
now and then a fine view to be 
seen. 

When they got home, all said 
they had had a ver-y nice time 
in-deed. 


170 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXVI. 

LIT-TLE I-DA. 

The chil-dren at Brook-side all 
seemed to think the best part of a 
vis-it from Aunt Kate was the 
good time they had with lit-tle 
I-da. Kot but what they loved 
Aunt Kate dear-ly, and were glad 
to see her; but I-da was such a 
dear pet, and had such fun-ny 
ways. 

She was small of her age. Ked 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


171 


seemed like a big boy by her side, 
for all he was but just six months 
old-er. 

Then her way of talk-ing was 
so fun-ny. It made the chil-dren 
laugh all the time. 

I-da liked the vis-it too, you 
may be sure. 

She was as hap-py as the day 
was long. She liked best to take 
hold of JN'ed’s hand and go with 
him to see the hens and chicks, 
or to look at Mike in the gar-den, 
at work, and Mike was sure to 


172 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


stop when he saw the two lit-tle 
tots come, and find some nice fruit 
for them. There was not much 
fruit yet on Mr. Dale’s place, but 
Mike took good care of the trees 
and vines, so there was hope of 
more the next year. 

One day when the lit-tle ones 
were down by the gate, I-da cried 
out, “ 0, see ! 0, see de cows take 
de woods to ride ! ” 

Tom and Ned looked out, and 
saw a load of wood drawn by an 
ox team. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


173 


“ 0, ho ! ” cried Tom ; “ those are 
not cows, I-da 5 those are oxen ; 
don’t you know, old Sake does not 
pull a cart ! ” 

“]^o ! nice Suke give me mik !” 
said the lit-tle girl. She liked the 
new milk, warm from the cow, as 
much as Rose did when she was 
of her age; in fact. Rose liked it 
still 

I-da thought all that Ned did 
was just right. 

Once, when the lit-tle ones were 
all out in the yard, af-ter tea, as it 


174 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


grew late, Jane came to call them 
in, to put them to bed. 

Iced’s mam-ma and I-da’s mam- 
ma were both gone out, to take a 
walk and make a call. 

Ned was at play, and did not 
feel like go-ing to bed ; and, sad to 
say, he for-got that he must be a 
good boy, and do as he was told, 
if he did not feel like it. 

So he looked up at Jane, and 
said, “No, go a- way, Jane ; I shan’t 
come yet.” 

Tjit-tle I-da sat still, and looked 
at him, and then at Jane. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


175 


Soon she said to Jane, “Ned 
savDt ! and I san’t, too ! ” 

“There, Ned, you hear that! do 
you want to teach dear lit-tle I-da 
such ways?” 

Ned’s lit-tle face grew red, and 
the tears came in his eyes. Soon 
he got up from the grass, and said, 
“Let’s we go, I-da, and then we 
will get up in the rnorn-ing,” 

Then Jane took one of them on 
each arm, for she was strong, and 
gave them each a kiss. 

As they went up stairs, Jane 
sang to them, — 


176 


ROSE, TOM, AKD NED. 


^^Lit-tle Ned 
Will go to bed, 

And on the pil-low lay his head. 

I-da bright 

Will sleep all night, 

And wake up with the morn-ing light.^^ 

This made them laugh, and 
they went to bed, as hap-py as 
could be. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


177 


XXVII. 

WHICH KIT-TT? 

What I-da liked best to play 
with was a kit-ty. She had no 
kit-ty at home, and when she saw 
IS'ed’s kit-ty, and Spot, and Net, 
she was so full of joy! She ran 
to take first one, then the oth-er, 
and kiss and hug them. 

When she saw one kit run af-ter 
a spool on a cord, and one kit run 
round and round af-ter her tail, 


12 


178 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


and one kit jump on the old cat’s 
back, how she did clap her hands, 
and laugh, and shout ! 

I-da did not get tired of play- 
ing with the kit-tens. She would 
sit and hold one of them as long 
as it would stay in her lap. 

She liked to play with the dolls 
with Rose, but she liked a kit-ty 
best to play with. 

“Mam-ma,” said Rose, “how 
I-da will miss our kits, when she 
goes home ! Won’t she ? ” 

“Yes, dear; and she will miss 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


179 


you all, too. Aunt Kate just said 
she did not know what she would 
do with her at first, she would be 
so lone-ly.” 

I wish we had one more kit-ty 
that we could give I-da,” said 
Rose. 

Her .mam-ma did not speak; 
she thought she would wait and 
see what Rose said next. 

Rose did not say a-ny more for 
some time, but at last she gave a 
sigh, and asked, — 

“ Do you think we ought to give 


180 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


I-cla one kit-ty, to take home, 
mam-ma ? ” 

“Well, I do think three hap-py 
lit-tle ones, who have each oth-er 
to play with, might spare one kit- 
ty to I-da.” 

“ I mean to go and talk to 
Tom,” said Rose. 

Soon Tom ran in. “ 0, mam- 
ma, must we let one kit-ty go ? ” 

“ I did not say you must, dear 
child. I said I thought it would 
be a good plan. It would make 
lit-tle I-da hap-py, and it would 
be a kind thing to do. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


181 


“You must think of this, too; 
the kits will soon grow large, and 
we shall not want to keep four big 
cats a-bout the house.” 

“Let old puss go, then, mam- 
ma, and keep the kits.” 

“ 0, no, no ! ” said Rose. And 
mam-ma said, “We all love old 
puss; and then she keeps off the 
rats and mice, and so is of use 
to us.” 

“ Which kit-ty do you think we 
ought to give to I-da, mam-ma ? ” 

“That is for you to say, your- 


182 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


selves. But if you give up one, 
you ought to own the oth-ers all 
a-like, I think. Which does I-da 
like best ? ” 

“ I know,” said Rose ; “ she likes 
Spot best, my dear Spot.” 

Tom looked at Rose, and he 
saw tears in her eyes; then he 
said, “ You need not give up Spot, 
sis ; I will give ]^et to I-da ; that 
will do as well.” 

“ No,” said Rose ; “ she will not 
play with Net now, for she bit her 
one day when she was at play 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


183 


with her. I dare say she hurt 
poor l^et, for she does not bite usP 

Ned had come in, and now stood 
by his mam-ma, to hear what was 
said. 

“Shall we give one kit-ty to 
I-da, to take home, Ned?” asked 
mam-ma. 

“Yes, we will,” said the lit-tle 
boy ; “ I loves I-da, and I will give 
her mine kit-ty.” 

“ Let us take I-da to choose 
one,” said Rose ; “ and, Ned, if she 
likes yours best, you can give it to 


184 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


her, and you shall own half of my 
kit-ty. And if she wants my kit- 
ty, you will let me own half of 
yours — won’t you ? ” 

“Yes,” said N'ed; “you shall 
have two paws of her, and I’ll 
have two paws.” 

“ And you shall own half of 
Yet, too ! ” said Tom. 

They ran off to find lit-tle 
I-da: her mam-ma had her in 
her room, to dress her. When 
the chil-dren told her she was to 
have one kit-ty to take home, she 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


185 


was as much pleased as they could 
wish. 

“Come, now, pet, and choose 
the one you want,” said Rose. 

I-da took a good long look at 
each kit-ty 5 at last she said, “ Dey 
is all nice, but I like dis one ! ” and 
she took Spot in her lit-tle arms. 

Rose looked at Tom with a 
smile, and said, “Well, you shall 
have Spot for your kit-ty, dear 
I-da. Now give me one good kiss 
for her.” 

I-da gave her a kiss, and a hug. 


186 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


too. And Aunt Kate said she was 
a dear, good child, and so were 
they all, to give up one of their 
pets. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


187 


XXYIIL 

HOOP-ING COUGH. 

One day, not long af-ter Aunt 
Kate’s vis-it, Mrs. Dale looked out 
to see what her lit-tle folks were 
do-ing, in the yard, and saw them 
all down at the gate. Out-side 
the gate were two lit-tle chil-dren, 
by the name of Ray, — Fred and 
Kell Ray, — who lived some way 
up the road, so that it was quite a 
walk from their house. 


188 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Mrs. Dale went to look out 
a-gain, af-ter a time, and saw them 
still there. They were talk-ing 
and play-ing through the rails, but 
they seemed all to take great care 
not to o-pen the gate. 

Mrs. Dale went down then, and 
said, “ Rose, my dear, why do you 
not ask IN'ell and Fred to come in 
and play with you, in the yard, or 
in your play-room ? 

“ Come, lit-tle ones, come in and 
rest ; you have had a long walk.” 

She took hold of the gate to 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


189 


0 -pen it ] but lit-tle Nell cried out, 
“ 0, no, Mrs. Dale ; mam-ma told 
us we must not go in-to your 
house, ’cause we have got the 
hoop-y cough.” 

Mrs. Dale could not but laugh, 
but she felt more like a good cry. 

“ So you kept the gate shut, for 
fear the hoop-ing cough wmuld get 
in to Rose, and Tom, and Ned ! ” 
said she. “My dear lit-tle girl, 
you might as well come in ; all the 
harm is done that will be done, by 
this time, for you have been talk- 
ing with them a long time.” 


190 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ Why, we did not come in one 
step ! ” said lit-tle Fred ; “ did we 
talk the hoop-y cough in-to your 
yard ? ” 

“Yes, my dear; the poor gate 
could not do much good, when the 
lit-tle heads met a-bove it. 

“ But do not cry, my boy ; you 
and I^’ell did not mean any harm, 
and we can-not help it now.” 

“He feels the cough com-ing 
on,” said Hell; “that is what ails 
him.” 

She was right ; poor lit-tle Fred 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


191 


be-gan to cough, and he had a 
hard time with it ; the fit held on 
a long while, and it made his nose 
bleed a good deal. 

“ Poor child ! ” said Mrs. Dale, 
“he is all tired out. You must 
come in, N^ell, and I will lay him 
on the lounge to rest, and wash off 
the blood from his face.” 

Jane had come out to see if she 
could help, and Mrs. Dale had her 
lift lit-tle Fred in her arms, and 
take him in. He felt so tired, that 
he did not mind what they did. 


192 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“Rose,” said her mam-rna, “you 
coax Ned in-to the gar-den with 
you. He was not as near them as 
you and Tom were; may be we 
can keep him from it.” 

“What makes you smile, Jane ?” 

“Why, ma’am, I was think-ing, 
if Rose and Tom had the cough, 
Ned would have a good chance to 
take it from them.” 

“ That is true ; but I might send 
him a-way from them, you know.” 

“Yes, ma’am; but it may be all 
for the best for them to take it 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


193 


now. They say it is not apt to go 
so hard with young ones, as when 
they are old-er.” 

“I dare say that is so, Jane. 
The fact is, it gave me such a start 
to hear they had the cough, and to 
see that poor child, that I could 
not think.” 

When lit-tle Fred had a rest, 
and had his face washed, and had 
some nice, cool drink, he felt quite 
bright. Mrs. Dale gave him and 
N’ell some books to look at, and 
some of Rose and Tom’s toys. 


13 


194 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED, 


She still did not think it wise to 
let her chil-dren play with them, in 
the room. 

But Nell’s face was grave and 
sad. Soon she put down the book 
she held, and went up to Fred; 
Mrs. Dale was in the next room ; 
they were in the play-room, and 
the door was half o-pen, so that 
she could see them ; but Nell 
thought she was gone. 

“0, Fred-dy,” said Nell, “I wish 
we had just come a lit-tle walk, as 
mam-ma said! I wish we had 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


195 


not come to talk the hoop-y cough 
to Rose and Tom ! ” 

“ Did we make them have it 
too ? ” said Fred ; “ I don’t want 
them to, it’s so bad ! ” 

“I wish we could take it all 
home with us,” said poor lit-tle 
]S"ell ] “ what shall we do, Fred ? 
let’s go home, and tell mam-ma.” 

“Well,” said Fred, “I want to 
go home.” 

Just then, Mrs. Dale saw, from 
the win-do w, a girl go-ing past, in 
the road; she was walk-ing fast, 


196 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


and gave a look on each side, as 
she went, as if she had lost some- 
thing. 

“l^ell, dear,” said Mrs. Dale, 
“ look out and see if you can tell 
who that is in the road.” 

“Why, yes,” cried ISTell, “that is 
our Ann ; mam-ma must have sent 
her for us.” 

So Mrs. Dale sent to tell the girl 
that ISTell and Fred were there. 

She told her to tell their mam- 
ma how it was that they came in, 
and that they were not so much to 
blame as it seemed. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


197 


“ 0, dear, ma’am ! ” said Ann ; 
“ sure, I am vexed that they came 
here! Their mam-ma told them 
they might walk a bit down the 
road, and they to come so far 1 ” 

“ Yes, that was what did all the 
harm. Fred and Nell for-got what 
their mam-ma said when she let 
them go out, and you see what a 
sad time came of it. Lit-tle girls 
and boys must do just as mam-ma 
says.” 


198 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXIX. 

SUN-DAT AT HOME. 

When I-da went home, and 
took Spot with her, the chil-dren 
said, “We shall see I-da on Sun- 
day, and Spot, too ! ” 

But the first Sun-day af-ter 
Aunt Kate went back, it came on 
to rain so hard, that it would not 
do to try to drive in to town. 

Rose, and Tom, and Ked said 
they did wish the rain would come 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


199 


some otli-er day, and not on Sun- 
day. 

But their mam-ma told them 
they must try to have a hap-py 
Sun-day at home. 

So she read to them a nice, sto- 
ly from the Bi-ble, a-bout the good 
man who was put in the den of 
li-ons, and the li-ons did not hurt 
him, for Gtod kept him from all 
harm. Do you know the name of 
that good man? 

Then they sang some hymns, 
and they each got a verse from 


200 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


the Bi-ble by heart, to say to their 
pa-pa. 

This was the verse that Rose 
learned : — 

“ My sheep hear my voice, and 
I know them, and they fol-low me.” 

Rose knew well that it was Je- 
sus who said this. 

This was Tom’s verse : — 

“ They that seek the Lord shall 
not want a-ny good thing.” 

And lit-tle E’ed got this verse to 
say: — 

“ God is love.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


201 


Then they went down to see the 
kit-tens, and play with them till 
din-ner. 

Af-ter din-ner, they each had a 
slate to draw up-on ; and Rose and 
Tom tried to draw a pic-ture of 
Dan-i-el in the den of li-ons. IS^ed 
said he would draw a big li-on, 
too; but his li-on was all mouth 
and teeth. Mam-ma gave Rose 
and Tom a pic-ture to draw by, 
and they tried to make theirs like 
it. Did you ev-er see a re-al 
li-on ? ” 


202 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 



When they were all |ired of 
draw-ing, and look-ing at pic-tures, 
their mam-ma read to them a lit- 
tle book, which they all liked to 
hear. The name of the book was 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


20.3 


“ Emma ; or, the Child that Je-sus 
called.’’ 

Rose was very fond of that 
book. She could read it now her- 
self, but she liked best to hear her 
mam-ma read it. 

So, for all they had to stay at 
home, the chil-dren had a hap-py 
Sun-day. 

We may be sure of a hap-py 
Sun-day, if we will try to keep it 
ho-ly ; for God will bless His own 
day. 


204 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXX. 

PA-PA SICK. 

The next Sun-day was a clear, 
fine day, but Rose, and Tom, and 
ITed did not get in-to town, to go 
to church, for their pa-pa was sick. 

He had come home sick two or 
three days be-fore, and had been 
sick in bed most of the time since. 

The lit-tle ones were ver-y sor- 
ry for their pa-pa, and they took 
great care not to make a noise 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


205 


near his room, for fear they might 
make his head ache worse. 

They were glad to be sent up or 
down stairs, to get an-y thing their 
pa-pa might want. 

In fact, pa-pa said he had such 
good care, he must soon be well. 

Rose liked to sit by her pa-pa, 
with a fan, to keep otf the flies. 

Once I^ed saw her do this, and 
he said, “Let me keep flies otf 
now.” 

So Rose gave him the fan, and 
put him up on the edge of the bed. 


206 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


He could not make the fan move 
ver-y well ; he hit his pa-pa’s nose 
with it. So he put it down, and 
kept the flies off with his hand. 
If he saw one come, he would call 
out, Shoo, fly ! don’t bod-der 
pa-pa ! ” 

Once mam-ma let Rose take up 
the tray, with some tea, to her pa- 
pa. She held it with great care, 
but just as she got to the foot of 
the stairs, Net, Tom’s kit-ty, came 
and made a jump on her, to get 
her braids, and came near mak-ing 
her drop the tray. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


207 


Jane had put her 
hair in braids that 
day, to see how it 
would look, and kit 
seemed to think it 
was just for her to 
play with. 

But Rose held fast to the tray, 
and all the harm kit-ty did was to 
shake a few drops o-ver, from the 
cup. 

As I said, Mr. Dale was not 
a-ble to go to church on Sun-day, 
and as mam-ma had to take care 




208 ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 

of him, none of them could go. 
So they had an-oth-er Sun-day at 
home. 

Mam-ma had to be in the sick- 
room most of the time, so she 
could not read to them so much.^ 

But Rose read to Tom and Ned, 
and kept them still some time. 

Then, as it was a fine day, they 
could walk in the yard and gar- 
den ; and they played go to church, 
under the trees in the yard, and 
sang some hymns, and read some 


ver-ses. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


209 


XXXI. 

THE CHIL-DEEN’S TRI-AL. 

Pa-pa was soon well once more, 
and could go a-gain to town. 

The first day that he went, when 
he came home, he said to the lit- 
tle ones, — 

“ I saw Aunt Kate to-day, and 
she says it seems an age since she 
saw yon tots. She says she wants 
mam-ma to bring yon all in to 
spend the day, as soon as she can. 


14 


210 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Do you think she can coax you 
to go ? ” 

“ 0, I wish she would just try,’’ 
cried Rose. “ Mam-ma, do you 
think you can take us soon ? ” 

“ I think I mean to do so quite 
soon,” said mam-ma. 

“ 0, good ! What day shall we 
go ? ” said Tom. 

“I can-not tell now what day, 
but I want to go the last of 
this week, or the first of next 
week.” 

The chil-dren were full of joy 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


211 


at this news, as you may think; 
for they thought it nice fun to 
spend a day in town at Aunt 
Kate’s. 

But the next day, as Rose was 
read-ing her les-son to her mam- 
ma, she gave a lit-tle cough. 
Mam-ma looked at her, but did 
not speak ; but soon she heard the 
same sound a-gain, and then a-gain. 

Her mam-ma did not tell her 
then that she thought the hoop- 
ing cough had come, for she 
thought it might be a cold; but 


212 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


she told Jane to watch the chil- 
dren when they were with her. 

The next day, Jane came to 
Mrs. Dale, and said, ‘‘ I think they 
have the cough, ma’am, for sure; 
Tom has been cough-ing two or 
three times this morn-ing.” 

“Yes,” said Mrs. Dale, “I heard 
one of them in the night, but I 
could not make out which it 
was.” 

“Poor lit-tle things !” said Jane ; 
“ they have so set their hearts on 
that trip to town, and you will not 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


213 


dare take them, will you, ma’am, 
for fear of lit-tle I-da ? ” 

Rose had come in, just in time 
to hear this. 

“Why, Jane,” said she, “what 
do you mean ? ” Why can’t we 
go to town ? What is the mat-ter 
with I-da?” 

“ Hoth-ing the mat-ter with I-da, 
my love ; but the truth is, we think 
you have got the hoop-ing cough, 
at last, and Tom, too. How you 
know, dear, how Fred and Hell 
gave it to you ; in the same way, 


214 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


if I were to take you now to Aunt 
Kate’s, you would give it to dear 
lit-tle I-da.” 

Rose did not speak 5 she looked 
at her mam-ma, and then burst 
in-to tears, and cried quite hard. 

Tom heard Rose cry, and he ran 
in, and stood to look at her. Then 
he said, “ Why, mam-ma, what is 
the matter with Rose ? ” 

“ I wish, I wish,” said Rose, with 
a sob, “ that Kell and Fred had not 
come here with their old bad 
cough.” 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


215 


Just then Tom gave a cough, 
and that made him think what 
Rose could mean. ' 

“Why,” said he, “have we got 
hoop-ing cough now, mam-ma? 
Why, Ro-sie, nev-er mind ! it don’t 
hurt a bit ; and we can have some 
can-dy, as Fred did, to make us 
well ! ” 

“ But, Tom, just think ! we can’t 
go to town at all, for fear we will 
give it to I-da ! ” 

“ 0 ! 'Now that is too bad ! ” 
cried poor Tom, with a stamp of 


216 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


his foot; and he looked as if he 
would like to have a good cry, too. 

“ There, there ! ” said mam-ma ; 
“ cheer up, now, my dear chil-dren ; 
do not take these sad looks and 
wet eyes down to pa-pa. Cheer 
up, and by and by we will talk 
a-bout this ; it may not be as bad 
as it seems.” 

Mam-ma spoke in a kind tone, 
that made Rose lift up her head, 
and dry her eyes. • 

“ That is my good girl,” said her 
mam-ma. “ Row come, let us go 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


217 


down to pray-ers ; pa-pa must be 
wait-ing for us ; where is our 

“He has gone down to pa-pa; 
he said he would be first, and so 
he was, for I had to stop to see 
what was the mat-ter with Rose.” 


218 


BOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXXII. 

THE TALK WITH MAM-MA. 

Pa-pa took pains at the ta-ble 
to say all the fun-ny things he 
could think of, to make Rose and 
Tom laiigh and feel hap-py a-gain. 

Then, when he had gone, Mike 
called them all to go and help him 
in the gar-den 5 he gave them each 
some-thing to do, e-ven fill-ing lit- 
tle Ned’s cart with weeds, for him 
to draw a-way. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


219 


So they had no chance to feel 
bad-ly, till they came in to their 
books. 

Then Rose gave a sigh, and said, 
“ How long do you think it will be, 
mam-ma, before we can go to see 
Aunt Kate ? ” 

“ I can-not tell, dear ; it. may be 
six or eight weeks ; it may not be 
quite so long ; I do not know how 
bad the cough will be, with you.” 

“ Have we got to cough as hard 
as Fred did? I should not like 
that.” 


220 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ I hope not ; it may be light, so 
that you will not mind it much.” 

“Well, I do wish it had not 
come till we had been to Aunt 
Kate’s ; I don’t see why it must. 
Can’t we go to church, mam-ma ? ” 
“ I fear not, dear child ; I do not 
think it would be right, if we are 
sure you have the cough.” 

Rose and Tom looked at each 
oth-er, and each wore a ver-y so- 
ber face in-deed. 

“ Rose,” said mam-ma, “ this is 
a hard tri-al for you and Tom ; 


KOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


221 


do you know what I mean by a 
tri-al ? ” 

“ It is some-thing that makes us 
feel bad — isn’t it ? ” said Rose. 

“ Yes, but it is some-thing, too, 
that God sends us for our good. 

“ God gives all his dear chil-dren 
tri-als of some sort to bear, so that 
they may learn to love him best 
of all, and to give up to His holy 
will. 

“Do you know what I mean, 
my love ? ” 

“But,mam-ma,” said Tom, “God 


222 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


did not send us this bad cough ; it 
was Nell and Fred who came and 
gave it to us.” 

“But God let them come, my 
boy ; He could have kept you from 
it, if He saw fit ; and that is why 
I say God gives you this tri-al, — 
I mean, this hard thing to bear. 

“ Now, my dar-lings, you know 
God loves you more than I can, 
and He would not let this come to 
you, if it were not for your good. 

“So you must try and bear it 
well, and not cry, or fret, or feel 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


223 


vexed, if you can-not go where 
you want to, nor e-ven if the 
cough should make you sick, and 
give you much pain. 

“ That is the way for you now 
to show that you love God, and 
that you feel sure He loves you, 
and will do what is for your good.” 

The lit-tle ones did not say much, 
but they seemed to think of what 
mam-ma had said, and I think they 
did try to bear their tri-al well. 


224 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXXIII. 

THE NEW COCK AND HENS. 

A-bout this time some friend 
gave Mr. Dale some fowls of a rare 
breed, that he had wished to have : 
they were a cock and two hens. 

The cock was a fine, large bird ; 
it was fun to see him strut a-bout 
the yard, as if he were the lord of 
all in those parts. 

He had no fear of a-ny one, but 
the lit-tle ones were half a-fraid 
of him, he was so bold. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 225 

One day Ruth gave Tom a turn- 
o-ver, that she had made for him ; 
and he had on his bib, and sat out 
on a bench, near the wood-shed 
door, to eat it. 

Up came the new cock, as pert 
as could be, close to Tom, as if to 
say, “ Give me some of that.” 

Tom put up his arm, and be-gan 
to cry; he thought the cock had 
come to peck at him. 

Ruth saw it, and she came to 
the door and said, “ Give him a bit. 


15 


226 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED, 





Tom ; 

that is what he wants 

; he 

will not hurt 

you.” 


So 

Tom broke otf a bit, 

and 

threw 

at him 

; but he got up, 

and 

went 

in-side 

the shed to eat 

the 


rest. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


227 


“That bold fel-low makes me 
think of lit-tle Sue Lee and her 
black-ber-ries,” said Ruth. 

“ What was it ? What did she 
do ? ” asked Tom. 

“ When I lived with Mrs. Lee,” 
said Ruth, “ they had a fine, large, 
white roos-ter, whose name was 
Tim, or Tim-o-thy. 

“ Lit-tle Sue was just three years 
old, and Tim was near as tall as 
she, if not quite. 

One day Sue’s pa-pa brought in 
a good hand-fill of black-ber-ries, 
— the first we had seen. 


228 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“ He put them on a lit-tle plate, 
and gave them to Sue. She 
thought they were ver-y nice, and 
went and stood on the door-step 
with her plate, to eat them. 

“Tim saw her, and as he was 
such a pet, he seemed to think she 
had come out to feed him ; so up 
he came, and picked up the ber- 
ries, one by one, till he ate them 
all. 

“ Poor lit-tle Sue stood still till 
he was done, and did not say a 
word ; then she ran in, cry-ing. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


229 


‘ Tim-i-ty stole all my back-ber- 
ries ! ’ 

“We could not but laugh to 
think she did not dare drive him 
otf. But her pa-pa told her Tim 
was a real thief, and he would look 
out and try to find some more ripe 
ber-ries for his lit-tle girl.” 

“Did he?” asked Tom. 

“ 0, yes, there were lots of them 
soon.” 

“ What a nice lot we got 
when Aunt Kate was here — 
didn’t we?” 


230 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


“0, dear! now this old cough 
has come, I s’pose we can’t go to 
ride at all ! ” 

“ Why not ? ” said Ruth ; “ you 
won’t give your cough to the 
woods — will you ? ” 

“They say a change of air is 
the best thing for hoop-ing cough ; 
I dare say, now, your inam-ma 
will try to let you have more rides 
than ev-er.” 

“ That is good,” said Tom ; “ I 
like you, Ruth.” 

Tom did not know what made 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


231 


him say that; but /know ; it was 
be-cause Ruth tried to say some- 
thing to make him hap-py, when 
he was with her. 


232 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXXIV. 

THE LIT-TLE NUESE. 

Ruth was right a-bout the 
drives. Mr. and Mrs. Dale knew 
it was well to let the chil-dren 
have the air a good deal ; so Mike 
drove them out each clear day, 
and twice their pa-pa came home 
in time to take them to the Lake 
for a nice row in the boat. 

Rose’s cough was light; it did 
not seem to make her sick ; but 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


233 


lit-tle iN'ed, who had be-gun to 
cough too, had it quite hard, and 
so did Tom. 

Their mam-ma and pa-pa, and 
all, did all they could to cheer up 
the sick chil-dren, and make them 
hap-py. 

Mam-ma did not leave them to 
go to town to spend the day : she 
said she should wait till they could 
go too. 

The first Sun-day af-ter the 
cough be-gan, she staid at home 
with them, and their pa-pa went 
a-lone to church. 


234 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


The next Sun-day, Rose heard 
her pa-pa ask her mam-ma if she 
would go that day. 

“I do not know what to do 
a-bout it,” she said; “it is four 
weeks since I have been to church, 
and I want to go ver-y much ; but 
I do not like to leave the chil-dren, 
and it is Jane’s turn to be gone, 
too ; I don’t know how they would 
get on with Ruth all day.” 

Rose ran in and said, “JS’ow, 
dear mam-ma, you can go as well 
as not ; I am not sick a bit, and I 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


235 


can help take care of Tom and 
l^ed, and Ruth is real kind to 
us.” 

“Well, love, I will see a-bout 
it; you are a dear, good girl to 
wish me to go ; I will see if the 
lit-tle boys think they can spare 
me.” 

But Rose took care to get the 
first .word with the lit-tle boys, and 
she did not find it hard to coax 
them to say they did not want 
mam-ma to stay at home with 
them. 


236 


EOSE, TOM, AND NED. 


So Mrs. Dale went to church, 
and had a good day of rest. 

And Ruth and Rose did their 
best to take care of the lit-tle boys, 
so they should not miss her. Ruth 
told them nice tales, and Rose read 
to them; and when Ned had a 
hard fit of cough-ing, Ruth sat 
down to rock him in her arms. 

But they were all glad to see 
pa-pa and mam-ma come back. 

Rose felt paid for try-ing so 
hard to take care of the sick ones, 
when her mam-ma gave her a 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


237 


good kiss, and said she was a dear 
lit-tle help-er. 

Aunt Kate sent them a box of 
nice grapes, which was a fine treat 
for them. 


238 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


XXXV. 

DARK DATS. 

The next week Ned did not 
congh so hard, but poor Tom grew 
worse and worse. 

In a few days more he seemed 
ver-y sick in-deed ; so sick that he 
lay in the bed all the time, and 
when the cough was not on, he lay 
with his eyes shut, pale and weak. 

Two doc-tors came from the 
town to see him ; and one of them 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


239 


had to come twice a day for some 
days. 

One day Rose heard Jane say 
to Ruth, “ Poor, dear lamb, he will 
not last long at this rate ; if he 
does not get bet-ter soon, he will 
be worn out.” 

Then Rose be-gan to see that 
her mam-ma looked worn with 
care, and that her pa-pa, too, was 
sad; and she knew they were 
a-fraid that Tom might die. 

Rose could not bear to think of 
this at all. When she heard a-ny 


240 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


word said of how bad poor lit-tle 
Tom was, she would rush out of 
the room, and throw her-self on 
her own lit-tle bed, and cry. 

One day her mam-ma saw her 
do so, and she went af-ter her, 
and sat down and took her in her 
arms. 

“ Rose, my love, do you cry be- 
cause dear Tom is so sick ? ” 

“ 0, mam-ma,” sobbed poor 
Rose, “ Jane said that day that it 
would be all for the best for us to 
have hoop-ing cough now; but it 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 241 

was not, a-ny such thing! for it 
will kill my own Tom.” 

Her mam-ma could not speak at 
first, for you may know her heart 
was sad. 

But soon she said, ‘.‘My child, 
we will hope Tom may yet get 
well; we will pray God to make 
him well, if it be His will. But 
if not, dear Rose, our good God 
knows what is best for our Tom ; 
He will keep him, e-ven if He 
takes him from us.” 

“But, mam-ma, it is right to 


16 


242 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


pray to God to let Tom live — 
isn’t it? I could not do with-out 
Tom, mam-ma.” 

“Yes, dear, it is right to ask 
this, if we try to feel all the time 
that God knows best, and to say. 
Thy will be done.” 

“Why, that is in the Lord’s 
• Prayer, mam-ma.” 

“Yes, that is in the Lord’s 
Prayer, dear child ] you may learn 
now what it means. ISTow I must 
go to dear Tom, and my Rose will 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


243 


pray for Tom, and for pa-pa and 
mam-ma too.” 

Rose did pray with all her heart, 
and she felt bet-ter af-ter this, for 
she felt that God would take care 
of Tom. 

Tom did not die ; in a few days 
he be-gan to gain, to cough less, 
and to take some food; and soon 
he be-gan to sit up. 

0, how glad Rose was! And 
lit-tle JiTed, too, was full of glee 
when he could talk to Tom once 


more. 


244 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


One day, when Tom was much 
bet-ter, Mrs. Ray came to see them 
all, and brought Nell and Fred 
with her. 

Mrs. Ray said to Mrs. Dale, “ 0, 
you do not know how- bad-ly my 
chil-dren felt when they knew 
your lit-tle boy was so ill. They 
could talk of noth-ing else; they 
seemed to think they had killed 
him.” 

In the mean-time, the five lit-tle 
ones had a talk by them-selves. 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


245 


Rose had felt as if she did not 
want to see Fred and Ml a-gain. 

But when she saw how sor-ry 
they had been, and how glad they 
were that Tom was most well, 
she could not keep her un-kind 
thoughts. 

So they were soon all mer-ry 
and hap-py, at play. And I hope 
these five dear lit-tle ones did not 
for-get that it was the good God 
who had kept them from death, 
and made them well, and full of 
joy a-gain. 


246 


ROSE, TOM, AND NED. 


Here I must end this book ; but 
I will make an-oth-er book, to tell 
you more of lit-tle Rose, and Tom, 
and Red. 



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